Trading Places
by aleexmariee
Summary: Rose works at St. Vladimirs guarding her charge and best friend Lissa. When she is sent to retrieve runaway Dimitri and has to mentor him how does she deal with her new found feelings towards him? And when things start to go wrong can they stick together?
1. Chapter 1

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I know it is probably really bad starting another story, when I can barely update the ones I have started, but Heartbreak and Happiness is nearly finished now and I have been dieing to write up this story, it's been in my head for ages.

_In case any of you are wondering, Tasha and Dimitri don't have a bond in this story, I just need a Moroi to run away with him so he would have to be brought back again._

_I really appreciate all reviews and opinions on my story :) Thank you :)_

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Trading Places…

Summary.

What if it was the other way round? Rose Hathaway is a 22 year-old guardian who works at St. Vladimir's Academy. She is bonded with Lissa who is dating Christian. Adrian still stays on campus to practice spirit with Lissa and try his luck with Rose. When she is sent to Russia to retrieve runaways Dimitri and Tasha, will she handle the situation the same when she begins to develop feelings for him…

Chapter One…

I stood hidden under the shade of the trees looking into a window in Baia, Russia. I could just make out the figures of Natasha Ozera and Dimitri Belikov. They had both run away from the Academy a year ago and we had failed to locate them until now. I saw Tasha get up and walk over to the fridge, open it, speak to Dimitri and then walk somewhere else. Dimitri got up to join her and he grabbed a coat. This was it.

I spoke rapidly into my communication device. "They're going to be coming out in a minute, get ready to restrain them."

I heard murmured responses telling me they were ready. The front door of the apartment block they were staying in opened and they walked out onto the pavement. They were strolling, clearly not expecting to be confronted. I did notice that Dimitri was scanning his surroundings. Novices were always taught to check the area for possible threats when guarding a Moroi, so I was impressed that he was doing so. Until his eyes landed on me.

He squinted, trying to get a better focus. He was still looking when a human walked by with a dog on a lead. As soon as it passed me, it began barking hysterically. For some reason, animals don't like Dhampirs. Aside from annoying the hell out of me, the dogs reaction had informed Dimitri that I was a Dhampir. He spoke quickly to Tasha, who's eyes widened. Then they began to run.

Once again I spoke to the rest of my team and they sprinted off in the direction the pair were heading. We were a lot faster than them because we were fully trained guardians. Dimitri appeared to be out of shape, he was also with a Moroi, who would slow him down considerably. The train station was ahead of them, so I knew that was where they were running too.

Just as they began to have hope in their faces, I stepped out in front of them, successfully diminishing all chances they had. The hope quickly disappeared and was replaced with determination. They weren't going down without a fight, that much was obvious.

Flames danced on Tasha's hands. She had specialized in fire - just like her cousin Christian. Before she had time to act, two guardians grabbed her from behind and the fire went out. Now I just had the untrained novice to deal with. No problem. He had a look of fury on his face and his hands were balled up in fists. "You won't take me away from here." He warned me. His voice had a slight Russian accent. I analysed his words. He didn't say he didn't want to be taken back, he said he didn't want to leave here. He had come to this place for a reason, it wasn't just a random place to escape too.

While I was puzzling over his statement, his fist came at me in a sloppy offensive manoeuvre. I blocked it easily and kicked out at him. It hit the intended spot on his leg and he stumbled backwards, almost falling over. I instantly took the advantage and swept his legs out from under him, successfully knocking him down. I pinned him, straddling his waist.

I took this time to look at him properly. He was tall, _really _tall. Six-six or six-seven at least. He had shoulder length brown hair that was tied at the nape of his neck in a ponytail. He was wearing a long leather coat that I couldn't see properly while I was sitting on him. It looked kind of like a cowboys though - a duster. Generally, he was _hot._

"Do you give up now?" I asked, sweetly.

He glared at me. "Never." He hissed, struggling in my grip.

I laughed. "Well, it doesn't look like your getting anywhere, so you haven't really got much choice." I said sarcastically. I might have to be polite in certain situations, but normally my sarcasm was in full throw. Especially towards Adrian and Christian.

He finally gave up, realising defeat. I got up and offered him a hand and he took it reluctantly. "Don't even bother trying to run again. We're much faster than you." I told him. He glared at me again, before placing a mask on his face, cutting off his emotions from showing. I could only tell that he was still furious from the fire in his eyes.

We drove to the airport where a private jet was waiting for us. We had around ten guardians with us. An excessive amount if you ask me, almost as many as the queen herself travelled with, but Kirova insisted that they were high risk and we need this many. Obviously not true, I took that Dimitri kid down in seconds.

I had Tasha and Dimitri separated, just in case, their whispering looked highly suspicious. They both shot me glares, which I found rather funny. I sat down at the front of the plane next to Mason. Mason Ashford was one of my best friends. He was also a guardian at St. Vladimir's and we had gone through the whole of school together.

I was also aware of his crush on me. It had always been there, but I ignored it as much as I could. I just didn't feel that way about him and so I hoped one day he would find someone else. It was starting to look unlikely though. "Well that definitely wasn't worth ten guardians." Mason said, repeating my earlier thoughts.

"I know." I chuckled. "They didn't exactly take much restraining."

Mason laughed. "No one takes much restraining when they are being attacked by you."

It was true. I had graduated top of the class. I was now Lissa Dragomir's - the last Dragomir's - guardian. We had been best friends since we were five, but when we were fifteen, something else happened. Lissa and me had been in a car crash that had killed all of her family. As well as me. Lissa had unknowingly brought me back to life, creating a bond between us. I could now feel her emotions and sometimes I got sucked into her head.

After the accident, she had become depressed and began cutting herself. Everyone thought it was just because of her families death, but it turned out it was more. Lissa had specialized in the element Spirit. Although it was great magic, it harmed her mentally and she became depressed when she used it. We had almost run away, but decided against it at the last minute. I had found out that I could take the darkness from her though and it kept it away from her. The only downside was that it made me mad and lose my temper quickly.

While we had been at school, her uncle Victor Dashkov had discovered her healing abilities and tortured her into using it on him to cure him from the disease that was killing him. He was in prison now, but the memory still haunts Lissa and me.

Lissa had also met her boyfriend Christian Ozera at school. They have been together since they were seventeen. Me and Christian used to have an awful relationship. We still make sarcastic comments and annoy each other, but really we're like brother and sister now. We would be there for each other if it was needed. Certain events had made us closer. One of them being Spokane.

One Christmas, the whole school had been taken to a ski lodge after recent Strigoi attacks. During this time Mason, Eddie and Mia had taken off to hunt Strigoi that had been staying in Spokane. Me and Christian set off to stop them from doing anything stupid. We ended up all being captured.

Although I managed to kill both of the Strigoi, Mason had been almost dead and I still blamed myself for letting that happen to him.

While we were at the ski lodge, we met another spirit user - Adrian Ivashkov. Adrian had some kind of weird obsession with me, but like Mason, I just didn't feel that way about him. So, I ignored it as much as possible, but unlike Mason, he constantly flirted and threw sexual suggestions at me. It was a lot harder to ignore than Mason's occasional appreciative gaze.

Adrian had some back to the Academy with us and now lived here to study magic with Lissa, much to my annoyance.

After graduation, we had moved to the Royal Court for a while, until Lissa had been offered a job to stay and teach Spirit to students who specialized in it. People now specifically came here to study with her. Christian taught offensive magic classes in fire to people who wanted to learn. Mia helped him, but taught with water.

Mason had been assigned to Lissa with me and Eddie got assigned to Christian. Mia and Eddie were together now. They were a really sweet couple. We all lived at the school like a happy family.

The plane flight was long, coming all the way from Russia. I decided I would go and talk to Dimitri. I wanted to know why he was so apposed from leaving this place. I sat down next to him. He was staring straight ahead. When I sat down, he gave me a quick glance then returned to staring at the chair in front. "What do you want?" He asked sharply.

I sighed. "I wanted to know why you didn't want to leave."

"It's none of your business. You've got us back haven't you." He said snarkily. I had a feeling if I wasn't trying to get answers out of him, I would like him a lot.

I chuckled. "I guess. I just wondered that's all." I told him. I didn't make any attempt to move from my seat, I stayed put, wondering if he would tell me eventually. He continued to stare ahead and it didn't look like he was planning on doing anything soon, never mind tell me his secret reasons for not wanting to leave Russia.

Soon the time difference and long flights caught up with me and I began to get very tired. Before I knew it, I was out.

When I woke up my head was leaning on something very comfortable. I automatically snuggled further into Dimitri's shoulder. His duster was also wrapped around me, along with his arm. It tightened slightly when I tried to move. I knew he was asleep as well, because his head was rested on the window and soft snores were coming from him. I could feel someone looking at me, so I turned around to see a very amused looking Mason watching me. "What?" I asked him.

He chuckled. "Nothing."

I undid myself from Dimitri's coat and arms, then walked back over to my seat next to Mason. I plonked down on the seat and yawned. "What did you get out of Belikov?" He asked me.

"Nothing." I grumbled. "He wouldn't tell me anything, so I decided to stay there until he cracked. I fell asleep instead."

Mason raised his eyebrow. "Apparently."

I glared at him, but didn't retort to his comment. I quickly fell asleep again, on Mason's shoulder this time. I couldn't help but think how it wasn't quite as comfortable as Dimitri's. Mason however looked like he was going to die a happy man.

We arrived back at the school after a hell of a long flight and changing planes three times. We still had Tasha and Dimitri, which was a good sign. When we got back to the Academy, we were told to take them straight to Kirova's office.

Me and Headmistress Kirova have never seen eye to eye. When I was at the Academy, I was sent to her office more times than I could remember. She looked so relieved to be getting rid of me at graduation. We had stayed at the Royal Court for a bit, until Lissa came back to teach spirit. Lissa thought she should be able to help other people rather than just learn about it for herself. We had been here for about six months now. She was devastated when I came back. At least I couldn't get sent to her office for being naughty anymore.

I opened the door to her office and stood at the back, while Dimitri and Tasha sat down in front of her desk. Mason stayed stood against the back wall with me. Kirova instantly launched into a rant about how irresponsible they had been. How Dimitri had neglected his duty and that he shouldn't have taken a royal Moroi away from the heavily protected Academy.

Dimitri was getting annoyed. "I didn't ask her to come with me. I told her I was leaving and she begged me to take her with me. I told her no. It was too dangerous and that she should stay here. Don't blame me for Tasha leaving." He told her.

I could tell he was telling the truth. Tasha looked like she would follow Dimitri anywhere like a lost puppy. She obviously adored him, but he didn't seem interested at all. It was just like me and Mason.

"You should have stopped her." Kirova told him bitterly. Before he could respond to her, she spoke again. "It doesn't matter though, Tasha will be staying here. You, however, will be sent away. We don't have any reason to keep you here, so you will leave."

I couldn't quite decipher the look on his face. He had that stupid emotionless mask on. I didn't want Kirova to let a novice like him go though. He clearly could be one of the best. "What!" He exclaimed. "You can't do that!"

"I can do whatever I want Mr. Belikov." She said coldly.

"Err, Headmistress Kirova, I think it would be a waste of talent to send Mr. Belikov away. He could be a great guardian. I think you should give him a chance." I told her.

She gave me a death glare. "Mr. Belikov deserves no chances. He should have just stayed and taken the responsibilities he was faced with, rather than running away."

Mason spoke next. "Guardian Hathaway is right, it would be a shame to loose such a promising Novice. The numbers have gone down considerably lately." I could tell he was trying to save Dimitri because I was, rather than actually wanting Dimitri to stay.

Kirova looked mad, but I could tell she knew we had a point. "But he is hopeless behind, he will need a mentor. Are you volunteering Guardian Hathaway?" She sneered.

I paused. I had not expected that. There was no way I could mentor someone. I couldn't teach someone how to be a good novice. All I could do was kick other peoples asses. "I don't kno-" I began.

"Precisely." Kirova interrupted. "He will be sent away."

I looked at Dimitri again. He wasn't looking at me so I couldn't see his face. However, I knew for a fact he would be a great Guardian. When we had caught him, you could see the determination in his eyes. It would make him powerful. I sighed. I knew I had to do it. "I can be Dimitri's mentor."

Her eyes widened. "What about punishment." She insisted. She really didn't want Dimitri to stay here, I wonder what he did?

"I'm sure you can find someway to punish him which doesn't involve him being sent away." I reasoned.

She huffed and turned to Dimitri. She had no chance but to let him stay now. "You will train with Guardian Hathaway before and after school for an hour. You will be put on house arrest and banned from all social activities."

He grunted and then nodded. I could tell he wasn't happy, but he didn't seem the type to argue like I would. He would just sit and suffer in silence. Oh, these training lessons were going to be fun. Not.

Kirova dismissed them after she had finished. Naturally Tasha didn't get any punishment. She was the _Moroi _after all. I still found it unfair how the Dhampir's were always second best to them.

Mason turned to me after we had left her office. "That was nice of you." He said.

I laughed. "There not words that normally come out of your mouth when your talking to me." I teased.

He laughed. "Your not that bad Rose. Your going to have to get up early now though." He joked back.

I resisted the urge to bang my head against something. "Oh god. It just gets worse." I complained. "He had better end up being the best bloody novice in this place when I'm done with him so I know it was worth it."

Mason chuckled. "Anyone training with you would end up being the best novice."

I punched his shoulder lightly. "Let's go tell Lissa about my new assignment." I suggested.

He nodded and we both walked towards the Moroi teachers dorm.


	2. Chapter 2

_I know these chapters aren't very interesting at the moment, but they get better. Soon some action starts happening, and Dimitri and Rose's relationship develops. I have tons of ideas for this, it just might take me some time to fill in the gaps :) _

_Thank you for all the reviews! They were all so nice. Tell me what you think of this chapter :) I have already started on the next one!_

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Chapter Two…

Mason and I walked over to Lissa and Christian's room together. I had already checked the bond to make sure they were there and not doing anything we wouldn't want to witness. "Hey Rose, Mason. Come in." Lissa greeted us, standing to the side so we could come in. "What's up?" She asked.

"Rose managed to keep the runaway novice at the Academy, but she has to mentor him." Then he burst out laughing.

"It's not that funny!" I exclaimed, slightly offended. Why did everyone seem to think that I would completely incapable of teaching a novice. Just because all I did normally was doing guarding the Academy rather that instructing didn't mean I couldn't do it. "I can teach someone if I want to! I'm not that bad!"

Lissa seemed to notice that I was slightly offended and tried to cheer me up. "But your going to have to get up in the morning." She laughed. "And your not the most patient person." She teased.

"As long as your not doubting my awesome skills." I joked.

Mason punched my shoulder lightly. "No one could ever doubt your skills Rose."

I giggled. "_You _definitely couldn't. I beat you _every _time."

"Is that a challenge?"

"It's not much of a challenge for me, but if your up for it, lets go!" I announced, grabbing his hand and pulling him along to the gym.

We were already in clothes that we could fight in, because we hadn't changed since coming back from Russia. We stood opposite each other on the mat. Lissa hadn't come, she said her classes were starting soon. The only reason we didn't have shifts is because we had been given the day off.

We took up our stances and circled each other. I knew I would win. I always do. But it was still fun to fight Mason. Suddenly, he lunged at me. I blocked easily and returned a kick to his shin. He stumbled backwards, but regained his balance before I could take advantage of it.

We carried on like this, blocking and dodging, blocking and dodging, until Mason attempted to floor me. He came full speed and weight at me. I predicted his move and side-stepped him. Mason was going to fast to stop though. I kicked his back and he fell forward. I quickly had him pinned and immobilised. He had lost.

I could now hear clapping in the background. I looked around to see some of the senior novices stood around applauding me. I had been to involved in the fight to even notice them. I got up and did and over-the-top bow. Mason laughed from behind me. I saw Dimitri in the crowd. He smiled when he saw me looking at him. I could tell from the way he was looking at me that he was impressed with my fighting skills. "I'm glad my new mentor can kick ass." He smirked at me.

I laughed. "You'll be wishing I couldn't when I start fighting you." I smirked back.

I heard a few gasps when Dimitri said that I was his mentor. I chuckled at that. My reputation had been at this school for ages. From my sarcastic and 'don't mess with me' attitude, to my guardian skills and Strigoi kills. Everyone had a different opinion on me, nevertheless _everyone_ knew I could kick ass.

The novices started their lesson after me and Mason moved from the centre of the gym. I decided to stay and supervise, seen as though I had nothing better to do. While I stood against the wall watching, I overheard some people talking to Dimitri. "I can't believe Hathaway is your mentor!" One person exclaimed.

"She's amazing! Your going to be hurting after you've finished practicing with her."

And then my favourite. "She's hot dude!"

I chuckled to myself. Dimitri smiled half-heartedly to all the people around him. I could tell her hadn't had to many friends before he left. He wasn't very social and he didn't like the attention. It still puzzled me as to why he left.

While he was training he was putting everything he could into it. He wanted to learn, so why did he leave in the first place? He would make a great guardian but he had deserted that life when he ran away. He clearly hadn't planned on coming back to it. It must have been something important to him.

I could tell by his speech in the Kirova's office that he hadn't wanted Tasha to come with him. They were close friends, but Tasha had insisted that she come with him, that much was obvious. She was in love with him. Either he didn't notice, or he tried to ignore it as much as possible.

When their class was over, I decided to go and get some rest before my training session with Dimitri. I didn't want to be falling to sleep while I was trying to teach him things. During his practice with the other novices, he had been beaten mercilessly. Although I felt slightly sorry for him, it meant my job was going to be even harder.

When I had been a novice I had learnt that stamina was the most important thing. Judging by his training session and his attempt at outrunning us in Russia, he didn't have very much of it. I was going to have to make him run laps and lift weights for a while. These lessons were going to be _fun._

I crashed onto the bed and set my alarm. I was asleep in minutes.

I woke up to the annoying sound of beeping. I sighed and smashed my fist down onto the clock. It made a strangled sound then stopped making the awful noise. I smiled appreciative of the silence. Then I remembered the my alarm had been going off for a reason.

Jumping out of bed, I put on some workout clothes and sprinted down to the gym. I was only five minutes late, but Dimitri was sat on the mats, reading a Western. I chuckled and he looked up. "Are you going to be late all the time?" He asked, a half smile on his face.

I laughed. "I can't guarantee that I won't." I joked back. "Are you going to be sat reading a western every time that I'm late?"

He chuckled. "I can't guarantee that I won't." He said, copying my response.

"Right, time for business." I ordered. He raised an eyebrow. Awesome. I always wished I could do that. "Laps." He groaned.

"Can't I just fight already?" He asked.

I shook my head. "Before you can fight, you need to have good stamina, otherwise you won't be able to perform the moves I teach you as well. Now, I want you to run for fifteen minutes and see how many laps you can do."

He nodded and ran out the door. I couldn't help but admire his looks as he ran around the track. He had muscles, but he wasn't bulky. His workout clothes were a good look on him. At least if I had to wake up early to train someone I would have a nice view, I decided.

He came back and I showed him some weights and other stamina building exercises I wanted him to complete. He didn't argue, which I was surprised about and carried them out well for someone so out of training.

I complimented him when he had finished. "Well done Comrade." I smirked at my new nickname for him. I could tell he hated it, which just meant it was funnier.

"Comrade?" He asked.

I nodded. "I like it. It suits you." I smiled.

He grimaced. "Of course _Guardian Hathaway._"

I groaned. I hated being called Guardian Hathaway, it reminded me of my mother. "Hey, I'm the teacher here, I can call you what I like, whereas you have to call me what I say." I figured out. "You will _never _call me Guardian Hathaway again. It's _Rose." _I told him.

He laughed. "I so wish this was the other way round."

"I don't. _Comrade._ Now go get some rest, I bet you're knackered."

He yawned on cue. "Sure am. See you tomorrow for practice."

I smiled. "If I can manage to get up you will." I teased.

He laughed outright. I loved the sound of his laugh. This was the happiest I had seen him all day. Throughout school when I had seen him, he had his mask of no emotion on. I was surprised that he had loosened up so much in our session. It made me happy though.

I walked back to my room slowly. I had nothing to do now. In a way I kind of wished that our training session had been longer, then I wouldn't be as bored as I was now. While I was walking, Adrian spotted me. I groaned, suddenly thinking my walk wasn't as bad as I thought. "Hey Little Dhampir!" He shouted to me.

"Hey Adrian." I said.

"I heard you go a student to mentor." He chuckled.

I nodded. "Yup. Why?"

"I just wondered, that's all. I know you're going to have fun trying to get up in the morning." He teased.

I laughed. "You are like the third person that has said that to me!"

"Only because it's true. So are you going to make him into a badass novice like yourself?"

"Of course!" I told him. "He's good to say how out of practice he is. He just needs to build his stamina up, then I can teach him how to fight properly."

Adrian nodded. "It's all lost on me Little Dhampir. Now are you coming to watch a movie with me." I gave him a look. "Don't worry, Lissa, Christian, Mason, Eddie and Mia are all coming too."

"As long as everyone else is in, so am I." I told him.

"Good." He announced, pulling my arm towards his room. When he realised I was coming anyway he let go and looped his arm through mine instead.

When we got to his room, everyone was already lounging around his sofa's and chairs. Only the loveseat was left. Adrian chuckled when he noticed my horrified expression. Mason didn't look to pleased either. I had a feeling this wasn't his idea. From the look on her face and feeling of accomplishment coming from Lissa, I had a fairly good idea who's plan this had been. I shot her a dirty look and she giggled.

We soon settled down to watch the movie. It was one of the worst things I had ever seen. I fell asleep halfway through. I vaguely remember Mason carrying me to my room, not being able to find my key and taking me to his instead.

I woke up with Mason's arms wrapped around me, my back pressing into his torso. I was also wearing his shirt. I wonder how long Mason had actually looked for my key. I could guess it wasn't very long. He was happily asleep with a goofy grin on his face. I laughed silently at him, before detangling myself, or rather trying to. His arms tightened around me the second I tried to move. I wriggled, but he had a death grip on me. I really didn't want to wake him up, but it didn't look like I had a choice. "Mason." I whispered, nudging his shoulder.

No response. I did the same thing for a couple of minutes, still getting no response. I was getting really annoyed now. "MASON!" I yelled at him.

He jumped and released me, falling on the floor. I sat on his bed in hysterics. Gasping for breath, I looked over the edge of the bed. "Oh my god…that was so funny." I laughed some more at his pissed off expression.

"Couldn't you have just left without waking me up?" He demanded. "Or at least woken me up a bit less dramatically!"

I was still laughing, so it took me a minute to answer. "I tried to, but your death grip isn't easy to get out of, and neither is waking you up. I was sat for to minutes poking you before I got annoyed and shouted." I teased.

"Couldn't you have gone another two minutes." He whined.

I shook my head. "This was much more funny anyway."

He grimaced and I burst into hysterics again. Soon there was a knock on the door and I went to answer it. Eddie stood on the other side. When he saw me in Mason's t-shirt he raised an eyebrow. It was weird how I had never noticed he could do that until Dimitri did it this morning. "Hey Eddie." I said, welcoming him into Mason's room.

Eddie saw Mason sitting on the floor still scowling and burst into hysterics just like I had done. "See Mason, I'm not the only one who finds this funny." I joked.

Once we had got over it, Eddie turned to me. "Why are you here anyway Rose?" He asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

I laughed at what he was suggesting. "Mason just couldn't find my key Eddie." I told him. "Stop being so dirty." I teased.

He laughed. "You can see where I'm coming from."

"I suppose." I huffed. He chuckled.

"Well. I have to go and put some decent clothes on. I have training with Dimitri." I informed them.

They said goodbye and I walked off to my dorm. Because they were short on guardian dorms, mine was in the Moroi teachers section, close to Lissa. This meant I had to walk across campus in Mason's t-shirt, seeing as though I couldn't be bothered to put my own clothes back on. I knew no one would be up at this time anyway.

When I walked past the novice dorm, I noticed someone walking out of it. It was Dimitri. He saw me and came to stand beside me. "Nice outfit." He said, raising an eyebrow.

I laughed. "It's Mason's. We were all watching a film last night and I fell asleep. Mason carried me back to my room, but couldn't find my key so he took me back to his room instead." I don't know why I felt the need to explain all of this to him.

He laughed. "Oh, and you didn't bother to get changed again."

I chuckled. "Nah. I was just going have to change again into my workout stuff anyway." I said with a shrug of my shoulders. "What are you doing out anyway?" I asked.

"It's time for practice." He said like it was the most obvious thing in the world, which it should have been.

I blushed slightly. "Oh. I didn't have my alarm clock, because I was at Mason's. also, I spent the last ten minutes laughing at him."

"What did you do to him?"

"I shouted at him while he was asleep and he fell on the floor."

Dimitri laughed. "I bet he was annoyed."

I chuckled. "That just made it even funnier." I liked spending time with Dimitri, he was entertaining. "Come with me, I'll just go get changed and we can run down to the gym. That can count as a warm-up." I suggested.

He nodded his okay and we began to walk back to my room together.


	3. Chapter 3

_Here is the next chapter. I am a bit dissapointed about the number of reviews, but the ones I got were great! Thank You! _

_The action starts in two chapters! PLEASE REVIEW!_

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Chapter Three…

We walked in a comfortable silence - something that I didn't manage to achieve very often. When we reached my room, he sat on my bed while I rushed around my messy room looking for something to train in. Seeing as though I couldn't find the leggings I had been after, I grabbed some short shorts and a tank top. I disappeared into my bathroom to change.

When I reappeared in my new clothes Dimitri's eyes widened slightly, but he didn't show any other signs of appreciation for my outfit. For some reason, that disappointed me slightly. "Come on. Let's get going." I suggested. We both ran down to the gym at a steady pace.

I decided not to bother with laps today, because we had already run a fair distance. I showed him some weights to lift, then press ups. He complied without complaint and set to it. I settled down on some mats which we piled in the corner and watched him work. His muscles rippled as he lifted the weight, and I couldn't help but ogle him. Luckily he didn't notice, that could have been awkward.

I felt the familiar pull a few seconds later, as I entered Lissa's head. She was sat with Christian. They were talking about me. "Rose really needs to get a boyfriend." She complained. "I mean Mason and Adrian are practically drooling over her!"

Christian chuckled. "She obviously isn't interested in them Liss. She could have had them ages ago if she was. She's happy at the moment, she doesn't need a boyfriend to complicate her life."

I smiled. Good old Christian sticking up for me. Lissa still looked and felt disappointed. She thought I needed to have fun and loosen up a little. It was true, I hadn't had a boyfriend for years. I just didn't need one. My job and my friends were plenty for me to live happily. Besides, if I ever did find someone who I genuinely loved, there was a high chance I couldn't be with them anyway. They would have a different charge or a different life completely. I was stuffed either way.

Christian chuckled, looking at Lissa, I knew that look in his eyes from previous experiences like these. "What do you need to worry about Rose's boyfriends for anyway? You've got me." Lissa giggled as he moved closer towards her.

Thankfully, I didn't get to see how the rest of the scene played out because I was brought back to reality by Dimitri leaning in and shaking my shoulders. "Rose?" He asked, realising I was back. "What happened, you were spaced out really bad."

He was still right in front of my face and my breathing hitched slight, going unnoticed my Dimitri. I could see the concern showing in his eyes and face. It was nice to know he cared, which was weird. Normally I wouldn't care whether or not somebody I had barely known a day cared about me, but somehow, Dimitri was different.

"Sorry." I smiled at him. I opened my mouth then paused, I was about to say I was in Lissa's head, but I knew he wouldn't have a clue what I was talking about. However, I felt I could trust him. So I told him the truth. "Sit down." I ordered.

He sat down gracefully opposite me. I wondered how he managed to be so elegant yet so tall. I was no way near a graceful as him and I was a foot smaller. He looked puzzled as to why I needed him to sit down to explain why I was zoned out for so long. "Do you know about me and the princess?" I asked him.

He shook his head. "Isn't she your charge?" He asked.

"She's not just my charge." I contradicted him. "She's my best friend. But there more to it than that." I paused. "Were bonded."

He raised an eyebrow. "What does that mean exactly?" He asked. I could tell he believed what I was telling him, he was just unsure of the details.

"It means I can feel her emotions. Sometimes she pulls me into her head unconsciously. It's like I'm sitting in her skin. I can feel, hear and see everything she does."

Realisation flooded his face. "That's what happened to you just then." He worked out. "How did it happen?" He asked cautiously. He didn't want to push it, but wanted to know.

I smiled slightly. "You know that all of Lissa's family died in a car crash when we were fifteen?" I asked him.

He nodded. "Weren't you in the car as well?" He asked.

"Yes. Well, turns out I died also." I told him. He face showed a mixture of shock and confusion. Before he could ask, I carried on. "Lissa unknowingly brought me back to life. She had specialized in Spirit, which meant that she could heal people. It forged the bond between us." I explained.

Although Lissa was open with he Spirit ability, we still kept the bond a secret mostly. The fact Lissa had specialized in a practically unheard of element was one thing, but a psychic bond was something completely different. People didn't question Spirit as much, because it was found in more than one person, but we still hadn't found another two people with a bond.

"That's amazing." He smiled at me. "So what was happening while you were in her head this time then?"

I smirked. "She was talking to Christian."

"Tasha's cousin? That's her boyfriend, right?" He checked.

I nodded. "She was complaining that I need to get a boyfriend."

Dimitri chuckled. "I bet its weird being talked about, when they don't know your listening."

I laughed. "Yes it is. You don't want to know some of the conversations I have heard mistakenly."

Dimitri looked amused. "So why did she think you need a boyfriend, I mean, you seem perfectly happy right now."

"Because I haven't had a boyfriend for ages. She says I need to loosen up and stop taking my job so seriously." I informed him.

"The whole reason she is alive is because you take your job seriously. Doesn't she know how much you give up to do your job?" He spoke without thinking. He looked slightly embarrassed when he'd finished, knowing he'd just insulted my best friend.

I smiled slightly. "No she doesn't. None of them do. All the Moroi take us for granted whether they realise it or not. When Kirova tried to throw you out of the school, she even took us for granted then. She didn't realise how much we need every guardian we can get. I know you're going to be really good, but she just thinks of you as another Dhampir."

Dimitri smiled sadly. "Thanks for saving me by the way."

I chuckled. "Its nothing. You really could be good you know."

He grinned when I gave him the compliment. I hadn't really said many positive things to him so far. "Maybe if you taught me how to actually fight I could." He teased, but I could sense the underlying seriousness in it.

I thought about it for a moment. He really did want to learn, and I _did _want to teach him. After considering it for a few minutes, I had made my decision. "Look Dimitri. I can teach you how to fight. But, you need to get your stamina up. If I teach you, we need more training time."

He nodded. "I think it would be you who has a problem with that not me." He joked. Then he turned serious. "But seriously, if your willing to do that for me, I want to learn."

I smiled. "I know you do, which is why I will teach you. But, I'm warning you, you will be tired a lot. And I won't go easy on you. You saw what I did to Mason when I fought him."

Dimitri chuckled. "I know you won't."

"What happened after Lissa said you needed a man then?" He asked.

I laughed. "She said that I should get with Mason or Adrian because they both like me." I sighed.

Dimitri regarded me closely. "But you just don't like them like that. You just want to be their friend." He guessed.

I nodded, genuinely surprised he had worked that out about me. "Yeah. Its hard. I know they both want to be with me, but I know even if I gave them a chance, nothing would come out of it and I don't want to give them false hope."

"I know the feeling." He muttered.

"With Tasha." I stated rather than asked.

He looked slightly surprised I had guessed this. "Yeah. She is my best friend, but it's hard when she looks at me with such love and I know I will never feel like that back. When I left, I didn't want her to come with me. Mainly because I didn't want to put her in danger, but also because I didn't want to have that awkward feeling that she seems to bring sometimes."

I sighed. "Why are our lives so messed up." I asked rhetorically.

He chuckled. "At least I know I'm not the only one who has these problems."

As we sat there in our comfortable silence, I noticed what time it was. We had completely wasted most of training. I chuckled. "We should get going. Training is finished. We'll start an hour earlier in the morning, and add and hour on in the afternoon." I offered.

Dimitri nodded. "Sounds great." He smiled before we both stood up and walked in our different directions.

I decided to go and see Liss, now she was finished with Christian. I didn't bother knocking on the door, knowing she was alone. "Hey Liss." I smiled.

"Hey Rose. What's up?" She asked.

"Nothing. I just thought I would come and see you now training is over. And by the way, I don't need a boyfriend."

She looked half shocked and half amused at the fact I knew what she had been talking about earlier. "But Rose you haven't had a boyfriend for ages." She whined.

"I don't need one Liss. I have you and all my friends. I don't need a boyfriend to make my life complete." I reasoned.

She still wasn't convinced. "How was training?" She asked, changing the subject.

I laughed. "Good. I've added some more time onto it though."

Liss looked at me. "How much extra time?"

"An hour before in the morning and another hour in the afternoon."

Liss looked shocked. "Holy crap!" She exclaimed. "Do you want him to die of exhaustion."

I laughed at her. She had no idea how much stamina a dhampir had compared to her. "He wants to know how to fight, so I'm going to teach him. First he needs to build his stamina, but if I add time on then he can run and do weights for half, and I can teach him to fight the other half." I smiled.

Lissa giggled. "Your going to have to get up even _earlier._"

I chuckled. "I don't know if I'm going to manage it."

"Me neither." She agreed. I swat her arm playfully.

We sat and talked about random things for a while until I had a shift. I knew I would be even more tired now, still having shifts and teaching Dimitri for even longer - but it was worth it. I wanted Dimitri to be the best, and he needed this to do that. I smiled thinking about how sore he was going to be tomorrow.


	4. Chapter 4

_Next chapter everyone. Thanks for all the reviews I got last chapter. I hope you enjoy this one :)_

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Chapter Four.

I woke up groggily, my alarm clock making that noise I despise so much. Time for training with Dimitri. I pulled on my training clothes and walked down to the gym.

I was on time, but Dimitri was still sat waiting there with his western. "I was on time today!" I exclaimed.

He chuckled, but for some reason it wasn't as light and happy as it had been yesterday. "You are a minute late actually, I thought you would be later so I started reading."

I swat his arm playfully, "Aren't I supposed to be the one telling you off for being late." I teased. "Now go and do your laps, I will run with you today."

He looked slightly shocked I was going to be running with him, but began stretching anyway. I decided if I was going to fight, then I needed to be warmed up as well.

We made our way outside, taking up our positions on the track. Dimitri's times had been improving every time, so I knew he was doing his best. I was happy he was trying, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered adding time onto our sessions. We ran at a steady pace. I had slowed down to meet Dimitri's stride, but he was still pushing himself.

He had cut down his time again, and I congratulated him before pulling some mats to the centre of the gym. We stood opposite each other, as he waited for me to tell him what to do. "Strigoi are a lot faster than you, to compensate for that, you have to predict your moves. Your stake will also help, because of the effect it has on a Strigoi."

He nodded taking it all in. I lowered my self into a defensive crouch. "Try to kick me."

Instead of responding with words, he kicked out at me, hoping to catch me off guard. I effectively blocked, knocking him back to the mat. "You see. I could see your move before you did it. It was easy to defend."

He stood back up and faced me. While he wasn't expecting it, I landed a punch to his arm. He didn't even have time to block it. He looked at me, astonished by my speed. Then he rubbed his arm slightly. "I wasn't ready." He complained.

"Do you think a Strigoi is going to wait for you to be ready before he attacks?" I asked rhetorically. "He is going to take every advantage he can, like I just did."

I showed him so simple offensive attacks, then we sparred. I wasn't using my full strength on him, because I just him to practise getting the technique right. I was pleased with what he had learnt this lesson. I told him he could go and I walked back to my room.

Something was bothering Dimitri, and that bothered me. I could see the almost haunted look in his eyes that he was trying to hide. I wanted him to trust me, to be able to tell me when something was wrong. That was kind of selfish I know, I never did tell people about my problems, and he was only my student. Yet, I had already told him my problems with Mason and Adrian. Something I had never even told Lissa.

It scared me how much he understood me. No one had worked those things out about me, and they had known me for years.

I shook off my weird feeling and laid down on my bed. I had to go and stand in the back of some classrooms for a bit in a minute. Sighing, I pulled on my guardian uniform and made my way to Slavic Art. I knew Dimitri had been put into that class.

Slavic art was the most boring class I had ever been in. Mr. Nagy used to teach it, but after Natalie - Victor's daughter - used him as her blood source to turn Strigoi, it had been taken over by an even worse Moroi, who could control the class about as well as she could control the weather.

I slipped in and took my place up against the back wall. I noticed Eddie was also there and I shot him a quick smile. He grinned back at me, before we let our guardian masks take the emotion from our face.

It had taken me years to learn how to do this properly. My face always showed my emotions, and trying to bottle them all up is harder than you think. Dimitri seemed to have mastered it already.

Thinking about Dimitri, I turned my attention to him. The teacher had set the class off on individual work, but, like normal, they were stood talking. I noticed a royal Moroi talking to Dimitri. He was smirking and looked arrogant. I could see the anger on Dimitri's face that he was trying to hide. I barely saw his arm twitch, and I knew what was coming next.

Just as his fist was about to connect with his nose, I jumped in front of Dimitri, blocking his hit. As soon as Dimitri saw my face, he looked slightly ashamed. I grabbed his arm roughly and pulled him out of the classroom. I saw Eddie give me a puzzled look before I was out the door.

Dimitri didn't lose control very often, so I knew the Moroi had managed to press his buttons. I was planning on making Dimitri explain everything to me, not just his almost fight, but the haunted look he had been wearing all day. I pulled him towards my room.

He hadn't been struggling in the first place, but once I realised he definitely wasn't going anywhere, I let go of his arm. He continued to follow me, showing no emotion on his face. Only the fire in his eyes showed the fury he was still feeling.

I removed the key from my pocket and twisted it into the lock. We both entered and I gestured to the bed for him to sit down on. He complied and we sat opposite each other with our legs crossed.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry." He muttered.

"What did he say to you?" I asked him in a soft voice. I wanted him to know I wasn't angry at him, I just wanted answers.

He paused, deciding whether to tell me the truth or not. "He was talking about my mother." He paused, his voice becoming harder and colder. "He called her a blood whore."

I gasped inaudibly. I met Dimitri's eyes. They showed hurt and anger. His body was shaking slightly and I could see the fight within him to stay in control of his temper. I did something completely unexpected then. I grabbed his hands in mine. "Calm down." I whispered.

He closed his eyes briefly, the calmness returning to him. He breathed out a long breath. "Thanks." He said quietly.

I nodded, but didn't let go of his hands. I told myself it was because I didn't want him to get angry again, but really I liked the way they felt in mine. They were still soft because he hadn't had as much training as me, but they were bigger and warmer than mine. "Why did that bother you so much?" I asked, not wanting to push him to much. "Why did that particular thing make you snap so easily?"

He manoeuvred his hands slightly, so that instead of me gripping his, he was gripping mine. "If I tell you why I left the Academy, do you promise not to tell anyone?" He questioned me seriously.

"Of course." I replied instantly.

He nodded, and took a deep breath, preparing himself for what he was about to say. "I went back to Russia to see my mother." Before I could ask him why that was such a big deal, he carried on. "My dad used to beat my mom up. That's why I went back. I beat him up and told him to get lost. I stayed because I was always scared he would come back."

Dimitri looked heartbroken at the mention of his father beating his mother. It hurt me to know he had been through so much. I leant forward and hugged him, offering my support. He hugged me back, resting his hands on my lower back, nestling his head into my hair.

I fit perfectly against his body as he held me, and my skin tingled all over. I didn't want to ever let go of him. I know I shouldn't be thinking things like this in the first place, especially when Dimitri was going through so much. But when his strong hands were securing you to him, it was kind of hard not too.

"I'm so sorry." I whispered to him, not really knowing what I was sorry for, just wanting him to know that I cared.

He gripped me tighter, and my tingles increased. "There is nothing that could be done but to get rid of him. It just hurts to think of what he did to my mom. She never deserved any of it."

"I know." I soothed him.

"It was like I was still a guardian, but I was her guardian rather than a Moroi's." He tried to explain. He didn't need to though. I understood. He just wanted to protect someone who he loved. I would have done exactly the same thing. I had given up so many things for Lissa. Not just because she was my charge, but because she was like my sister.

We released each other at the same time, seeming to realise that we were still hugging. I felt the loss when he let go of me though. "Are you okay?" I asked softly.

He nodded slightly then smiled. "I'm fine. I just miss and worry about her."

"Have you rung her?" I suggested.

He shook his head. "I couldn't find a phone in this stupid place." He complained.

I laughed. I forgot that they didn't let you have phones when you were still a student. I walked over to the dresser and threw him mine. "Use mine." I offered.

"Won't that cost you loads of money? Calls to Russia aren't cheap from the U.S."

I chuckled. "I can get Lissa to pay for it. She would pay for everything if she could."

He grinned at me. "Thank you."

After dialling the number, he put the phone to his ear. He was looking excited and I knew he was dieing to talk to his mother again. I heard a voice answer the phone in Russian. Dimitri replied fluently. He sounded great when he spoke in Russian. It rolled off his tongue and made his voice sound that much sexier.

I mentally slapped myself. I had already hugged him and held his hands. I didn't need to be thinking that his voice was sexy as well. This was already getting out of hand. He was just my _student_. Nothing more.

I tried to push my feelings to the back of my mind and turned to Dimitri who was still talking and laughing, a big grin covering his face. I liked seeing him so relaxed and happy.

I didn't understand a word they were saying, so I only realised they had finished talking when he handed me the phone back again. "Thank you." He repeated. "It was good to talk to her again."

I smiled, "You know you can come and borrow my phone whenever you want. I don't mind." I told him honestly. Then I thought about something. "How come you never told anyone the real reason you left?"

He sighed. "If anyone found out my mother knew about this, she would have got into trouble for not informing the Academy of our whereabouts." He explained. That made sense, I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of that.

I played about with the phone that was now in my hands. It said the time on and I cursed out loud. I had a shift in five minutes. "I have to go, I have a shift." I exclaimed, darting around the room at a mad speed.

Standing up from the bed, Dimitri chuckled. He walked over to the door and then turned to face me. I came to a stand still in front of him as he pulled me into another hug. "Thanks." He whispered into my hair. "You really helped me." He pulled back, so we were still close together and wrapped a piece of my hair around his finger before placing it behind my ear. My breathing hitched and my heart rate increased wildly. I found myself looking at his lips.

I lifted my gaze back up to his eyes, which were looking into mine intently. Just as I began to lean in, I realised what I was doing. I was about to kiss my student. I stopped moving. "I have to go." I said quietly, before darting out of the door.

I didn't care that I had left Dimitri in my room by himself, I just wanted to get away from the situation. I had wanted to kiss him so badly. He knew it as well. I could tell by the way he was looking at me in that moment he knew exactly what I wanted. He wanted it too. I cursed at myself. How could I get myself into this situation.

I was now training for four hours a day with a novice I was developing feelings for. _Great. _It had to stop. I would ignore it. It would go away. We both knew nothing good would come from this. Tomorrow I would act as if nothing happened. We would both act normally and then these feelings would go away. It was nothing to serious yet, so I could get over it.

I spent my whole shift trying to convince myself this. Little arguments kept coming up against me though. He understands me. No one has ever guessed half the things he had managed to get out of in a matter of days. I have never felt like this about someone _ever. _It was all just too much. I didn't want these feelings. I just wanted him to be a normal student.

I guess things never turn out how we want them to.

I trudged back to my room, praying that Dimitri had gone. I knew he should have been going back to his lessons, but I had a feeling he wouldn't have. The door was unlocked seeing as though he didn't have a key, but the room was empty. I breathed a sigh of relief, then collapsed onto my bed, burying my face into the pillow.

After stripping off and putting on my big t-shirt over my underwear, I crawled back into bed. I tossed and turned for hours before falling into an uneasy sleep. Dimitri plagued my dreams, causing me to wake up many times. In the end I gave up and walked outside, not bothering to change my clothes, but putting on some slippers.

The sun was blinding when I first walked outside, but after my eyes adjusted I could appreciate it. As a guardian I hardly ever got to be out in the sun. I had persuaded Alberta to give me shifts at night when I should be awake anyway, so I didn't even get to see it then. Although the sun was out, the wind was still biting cold and my skimpy clothing didn't do much to help.

I found a deserted bench after a few minutes walking and went to sit down on it. I huddled my knees to my chest and pulled my top down over them, like I used to do when I was a child. It didn't warm me up much, but it made me feel slightly better. I rested my head on my knees and sighed. Now I was out here and wide awake, all I could do was think. Something I had been wanting to avoid.

As I had expected, my thoughts shifted back to Dimitri. And as if by magic, he appeared in front of me. "Rose?" He asked, almost hesitantly.

I looked up from my knees and smiled weakly at him. "Hey Comrade."

I noticed he was wearing that ridiculous long coat. I couldn't help but notice how warm it looked. As if reading my mind, he took it off and hung it over my shoulders. "Thanks." I smiled at him, before hugging his duster to me. It smelled like him, and his aftershave clouded my senses. I closed my eyes and focused on the smell, rather than the fact he was sitting next to me.

"What are you doing out here? This isn't your shift is it?" He questioned.

I shook my head slightly. "Couldn't sleep. Shouldn't it be me asking you what _you're _doing out here anyway?" I teased lightly.

He chuckled. "Couldn't sleep." He responded with the same answer I had provided.

I wondered if he had been thinking about me, like I had been thinking about him. I wondered if he was thinking about what happened earlier. One look at him, and I knew he was.

I also knew he had figured out why I couldn't do this. I couldn't get involved with my student. If anyone found out then it would ruin both of our careers. I couldn't risk not protecting Lissa because of some silly relationship with a student. _Silly relationship. _It hurt to think of those words. I knew in reality we already had more than a silly relationship, but everyone else wouldn't think like that. Everyone else would think I was taking advantage of him.

I sighed loudly, forgetting for a moment Dimitri was still there. He turned to look at me, regarding my expression. I stood up and gave him his coat back. "Come on, it's cold and you shouldn't have been outside in the first place."

He nodded and stood up behind me. He bent down and whispered in my ear. "Goodnight Rose."

My breathing hitched and I smiled to myself, knowing he couldn't see it. "Night Dimitri." I said quietly, before he turned and walked in the other direction.


	5. Chapter 5

_Here is the next chapter! It begins to get better now! I hope you enjoy it, and please review! Thanks for all the reviews I got last chapter! _

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Chapter Five…

After two weeks of constant training and practice, Dimitri's skills had grown. Unfortunately, so had my feelings for him.

Training had been uneventful, for the most part, but that didn't stop my feelings escalating. Just the simplest things had made me admire him.

One of them was the determination that he put into his practices. I had never seen anyone so dedicated to their training. I knew what had happened to his mother had hardened him, and he knew what it was like to face horrible things. He had improved rapidly since we had started, and he had begun to beat the some of the other novices in his class.

Of course he was not the best yet, but he was getting there. He could now run twice as many laps as when he had started, and his technique was almost perfect.

His control had also grown a lot. I thought back to what had happened a couple of days ago.

I had been stood in Slavic art once again, with Eddie stood next to me, when I got a sudden sense of Déjà vu. The same asshole Moroi walked up to Dimitri. He began talking to him. Once again, I saw the fire and anger building in his eyes.

Unlike last time, however, his arm didn't twitch, so I didn't need to rush between the fight that was going to happen. Instead, he lifted his gaze to mine. I gave him reassuring messages through my eyes. Dimitri had smiled slightly, and then walked away.

I grinned happily that my stare alone had been enough to stop him doing something he would regret. Or at least attempted it, I would have been there the second he tried to do something stupid. Eddie noticed my huge smile and gave me a concerned look. He probably thought I was losing my mind. I just shook my head at him, not wanting to explain.

I had been so proud of him that day. Knowing that my encouragement was helping him made me pleased.

Other things had happened, which had been slightly less innocent.

One day at training, I had been telling him to try and pin me, knowing he wouldn't be able too.

We had fought for ten minutes before I began to tease him. While I was slightly distracted, he had brought my arms up over my head and rammed me into the wall which was behind me. His body was pressed up against mine and I was finding it hard to breath - not just because of his body weight.

I lifted my head up to meet his eyes. We were both breathless from fighting and our chests were rising up against each others. "Is this good enough for you." He panted out.

I couldn't bring myself to speak though. Our faces were mere inches away from each other and it was just like that night in my room. I could see the same passion in Dimitri's eyes as he had when he was fighting, only this time, it was directed at me.

I could see him leaning towards me, ever so slightly. Instead of letting my desires surface any more than they had already, I punched him arm, and pinned him to the ground. "This is how you should do it." I teased, trying to focus the attention away from the moment we had just had.

He had gotten the hint and carried on fighting me. But every time we pinned each other, there would be a slight stop where we looked at each other. Our punches and kicks contained more than just fighting energy, and they would sent the familiar tingles through my body.

I had let Dimitri call his mother practically everyday and he seemed happier and happier knowing nothing had happened. I could tell from what he had told me that she wasn't the type of woman to worry her son if anything had happened to her though. I loved listening to him talking in Russian. He had once asked me if I wanted him to talk in Russian. I shook my head instantly and insisted that he should talk in Russian like he was used to. He smirked at me, and I had a feeling he knew I had an ulterior motive to making him speak Russian. He was so right.

I chuckled quietly to myself as I waited in the gym for Dimitri to arrive. I had actually been on time today, something I was quite proud of. However, Dimitri was late, for the first time _ever. _That bothered me. Something had to have happened.

I sighed. I was just overreacting. I was late for training quite often. He could have been late as well for all I know. I sat restlessly on the training mats while I waited. When it got to twenty minutes late, I knew something had gone wrong.

I jumped up and sprinted to his room. The door wasn't locked, which was strange. I knew Dimitri had always locked his door. I pushed it open tentatively.

As soon as I saw the chaos in front of me, I gasped. The whole room was a complete tip. Things had been thrown around it, and there were even some dints in the walls. The most shocking things of all though, was the body of Tasha Ozera laying unconscious on the bed.

I rushed over and tried to revive her. She stirred slightly, but didn't regain consciousness. I cursed then lifted her into my arms.

Sprinting back towards the infirmary, I saw the early risers giving me some strange looks. I ignored them and carried on running.

When I got to the infirmary, I spoke quickly to the receptionist. "Quickly, get Dr. Olendzki and call Alberta." I ordered.

I proceeded to carry Tasha to the nearest bed. I looked at her and refused to let myself panic.

The terrible thing is that I couldn't care less what happened to Tasha. I just wanted to see Dimitri and know that he was alright. I knew he had been taken and had put up a fight - that's why the room was such a mess. I couldn't believe they had taken him. Of all the novices that could have been taken, it was Dimitri.

Alberta came rushing in a second later. "What happened?" She demanded.

"I went to Dimitri's room to see why he wasn't at practice and I found Tasha out cold." I paused. "They've taken him Alberta, we have to find him." I practically pleaded.

She ignored my last comment and turned to the doctor, who I hadn't realised had come in, and was looking over Tasha, trying to revive her. "When will she wake up?" She asked calmly.

I was seething. How could she be calm at a time like this. I knew my feelings for Dimitri were clouding my judgement slightly, but right now, all I wanted to do was to have him back and tell him how much he meant to me.

"She should wake up any second." Dr. Olendzki informed her.

I sighed. I stood tapping my foot, playing with my nails and hair for about a minute before Tasha's eyes started flickering.

"Dimka!" She cried out as soon she could speak.

I was instantly in her face. I assumed that Dimka was what she called Dimitri. "Where is he? What happened to him? Who took him?" I gushed out.

Alberta put a hand on my shoulder and pulled me back slightly. "Calm down." She hissed to me. I scowled and moved back a bit more.

Alberta took my place in front of Tasha. "Do you remember anything?" She asked soothingly.

She nodded and began to speak. "I went to see Dimka because I hadn't spoken to him recently, he was always at training." I smiled to myself about that slightly. "We were sat talking when some guardians burst through the door. I didn't recognise them, but they started trying to grab Dimitri. He fought back with them and just as I was about set one on fire they knocked me out. That's all I remember." She told us in shaky breaths.

I racked my brains trying to think of anyone who would target Dimitri. Realisation flooded through my brains. I jumped slightly. "Tasha." I said, as calmly as I could manage. "I need you to tell me everything you know about Dimitri's father."

Tasha looked astonished. "He told you?" She asked, incredulously.

I nodded. "Yes he told me. Now tell me what you know about him." I demanded.

Alberta was looking between the two of us, completely lost. Tasha sighed. "All I really know is his name. Richard Tarus. He was never willing to talk about him to me." She said the last but kind dejectedly. She didn't like to think that he had told me about him when he had only known me about two weeks, and he wasn't even willing to talk to her about him.

I sighed loudly and pressed my hands against the side of my head, trying to think. Then the answer popped into my head. "I know who can tell me." I exclaimed.

I grabbed my phone out of my pocket. Looking through the previously dialled calls, I found the number I wanted. Pressing the call button, I noticed Alberta and Tasha look at me as if I was mad. Especially Alberta, she didn't have a clue at all.

The phone was answered a few minutes later. She spoke in Russian, so I had no idea.

I paused slightly. "Hello? Is this Olena Belikov?" I asked hesitantly.

I heard Tasha choke on something she was drinking. "How the hell did you get his mothers number?" She asked out loud.

I ignored her and listened to Olena's reply. "Yes, who is this speaking please?"

"This is Guardian Rose Hathaway from St. Vladimir's Academy."

"Your Dimitri's mentor? He's told me about you." I smiled, knowing he had talked about me. "How can I help you."

I hesitated. "I know this is going to be hard for you, but I need to ask you some things about Richard Tarus."

I heard a sharp intake of breath from the other end of the phone. "What has he done?"

"He's…" I paused. "He's kidnapped Dimitri." I choked slightly on my sentence.

I heard something smash in the background. She must have been holding a plate. "No." She whispered. "Not _my _Dimka."

"Don't worry." I told her. "We _will _get him back. I promise I will get him back if it's the last thing I do." I vowed determinedly. "But I need you to help me and tell me what you know. Does he have any properties near to the Academy?"

She didn't speak for a while, and I knew she was thinking. "Yes." She answered finally. "He has one about 20 miles away from you."

I breathed a sigh of relief as she recited the address to me, which in turn I wrote down on a piece of paper and handed to Alberta. '_He's there_' I mouthed to her. She nodded and swiftly exited the room. No doubt to inform the other guardians and begin to plan.

"Thank you Olena. You don't know how much you've helped. I promise you I will get your son back for you." I repeated, trying to convey how much I meant it through my words.

"It's okay Rose. I know you will do everything you can."

I smiled then hung up. Tasha was looking at me gone out. "How did you get his mothers number?" She repeated her earlier question.

"He's been calling her from my phone for a while now." She looked, if possible, even more annoyed. "I have to go. Thanks for your help." I fake smiled at her, before walking out to see what else had happened.

As I walked into the office, everyone turned to look at me. I looked around the room. There were only a select few here. This must be the rescue team. I spotted Mason and Eddie and went to sit next to them. Just as I was about to sit down, Alberta gestured for me to come up to where she was standing. "Rose knows the most about this." She told the others. "Now, how did you know it was Dimitri's father that had kidnapped him?" She asked.

I paused. I didn't know whether to tell her the truth or not. I had promised Dimitri not to tell anyone. She gave me a sharp look, saying she wanted the truth. "Dimitri's dad used to beat his mother. He ran away from school and went to protect his mother from his dad. He stayed there to make sure his dad didn't come back." I told everyone. I could see looks of shock, sadness and anger or a mix of them all on peoples faces. "You had better not get his mother into trouble for this." I hissed to Alberta quietly.

She nodded. "Of course."

I smiled. "Good."

She turned back to the group. "We have an address where he is being held and so we are going to raid it. We go out in the SUV's and all stop a short distance away before we get him back." She announced. Everybody nodded. "Right, lets go!" She called.

We all stood up and headed to the cars. I was with Eddie and Mason. I sat in the back, while they took the front.

I thought about what was about to happen and shuddered. I didn't even want to know what state Dimitri was in when we found him.

I sighed and turned my attention back to the trees whizzing past us. This was going to be a long journey.


	6. Chapter 6

_Here is the next chapter, the big rescue! It is the longest chapter I have done so far on this story! _

_I was thinking of doing a Dimitri's Point Of View for this chapter, I was wondering what everybody thought? _

_Thanks for all the reviews, I had a lot more last chapter, it really encourages me that people like to read my story! Hope you enjoy this chapter everyone! _

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Chapter Six..

I sat in the back of the van, trying to keep my breathing even. I was almost panicking. _Almost. _I refused to let anyone see how much this was affecting me, especially two people who were very likely to be able to read me. I kept my face composed, but my hands wouldn't stay still. I twiddled my thumbs and played with my hair, tapping my feet unconsciously.

Playing with my hair, just reminded me of Dimitri though. One day when he had just finished calling his mother, he had asked me why I hadn't cut my hair.

"How come you never cut your hair?" He asked, inquisitively. "Most guardians do, to show off their marks."

I shrugged as I looked down at my dark brown, almost black, locks. "I always loved my hair, I never want to cut it." I explained.

He looked longingly at it, then reached out and twirled a piece around his finger. "I'm glad you didn't cut it." He told me quietly.

I smiled, thinking about the memory. Then, the reality kicked in, and my face turned to a grimace. "Can't you go any faster?" I urged Mason, who was driving.

He glanced at me, only taking his eyes off the road, which he was already speeding down, for a second. "Rose! I'm already going twice the speed limit." I huffed and sat back, leaning my head against the headrest.

"How did you know all that stuff about Dimitri's dad?" Eddie asked me, trying to break the all-consuming silence.

"He told me." I answered plainly.

Eddie looked puzzled, but Mason decided to pry for more information. "How did you find out this address? Did Tasha know it?"

I shook my head. "No, Tasha didn't know anything. I called his mother."

"How on Earth did you have his mother's number?" He exclaimed, incredulously.

"He's been calling his mother off my phone for a while now. He wanted to make she was okay, and that his dad hadn't gone back again. I let him ring her off my phone, because students aren't allowed them."

"Won't that have cost you a ton of money?" Eddie asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Lissa will pay for it. You know she always complains that I don't spend enough money when I can, at least now I'm using it for a good cause."

Mason nodded his agreement. "Yeah, I guess your right."

The drive carried on in silence. I was still waiting impatiently, counting down the moments before I could get Dimitri back. I was nervous. I was nervous to see what state Dimitri was in. I was nervous to see if he was actually there. Maybe it wasn't his father that captured him? Maybe he was at a different address?

All these question whizzed around my head and, if possible, made me even more nervous. We pulled up a few minutes later.

We all piled out of the cars and stood huddled on the pavement. "We go in on foot from here." Alberta commanded. "We don't want to alert them to our presence, until we attack."

We all nodded our heads in understanding.

We were going in in teams. Me, Alberta, Eddie and Mason were a team. There were other groups consisting of the remaining guardians stood with us.

We walked up to the house stealthily. We were all taking different points of entry. We had observed the house and could guess by the shape that there was one big room in the middle, which was more than likely where Dimitri was being held.

Me, Mason, Eddie and Alberta would be the ones infiltrating this space. The others would fan out, taking out anyone placed in the other rooms.

My hands were sweating we prepared to enter. "Focus Rose." Alberta warned me.

I nodded as we all got into position. We were just waiting for the signal to all burst in at once. We had our stakes, just in case they were working with Strigoi, which I already knew wasn't true, as my nausea wasn't acting up, but apart from that, we were going on hand-to-hand combat.

Suddenly, we got the signal. Bursting into the house, we navigated our way to the main room. We only had to take out one guardian on the way there, who was alone guarding a door. He didn't stand a chance.

Once in the room, a horror scene was presented in front of us. I could see Dimitri tied to up to a chair, and a Moroi man stood in front of him. I knew this was his dad instantly.

Rage bubbled inside me as I looked at the man who had kidnapped Dimitri. He had spun around alarmed as we entered the room. Three guardians attacked us, going after Mason, Eddie and Alberta. That left me to look at Richard Tarus.

He was still blocking my view from Dimitri, who hadn't said a word. My guess was that he was gagged. Just the thought of that was too much. I lunged at Dimitri's dad, punching him in the gut, hard. I punched him in the nose, successfully breaking it. His eyes widened and then he spoke. "Stupid bitch." He hissed, then turned round to look at Dimitri. "I will get you. You and your stupid little guardian girlfriend." He gestured to me, when he said 'guardian girlfriend'. That was it, I kicked him in the chest. He flew backwards and hit the wall. I had successfully rendered him unconscious.

I turned now, and looked at Dimitri. The darkness was still raging inside me, but it quickly defused, looking at Dimitri. He had bruises all over his body and a black eye. Straight lines were cut all up his forearms, and a big gash was running down the top of his right arm. The aim of these cuts hadn't been to kill him, just to put him in severe pain. By the look he was showing, it had worked.

As I looked into his eyes, I could see the pain and relief mixed into one. I quickly untied the gag from around his mouth, and set to work on the rope binding his arms and legs to the chair. I tear slid from my eye as I thought of the amount of pain Dimitri was in.

Once I had succeeded in releasing him, I went back around to his front. "Thanks." He croaked out, smiling as much as he could manage. Another tear slipped out of my eye as I helped him up.

"Come on, lets get out of here." I said softly.

I hadn't even realised the other three had stopped fighting I was so caught up with Dimitri. Dimitri wasn't really incapable of doing things for himself, the only injuries he had were ones to cause him pain. He walked perfectly normally.

When we got back to the vehicle, Dimitri got into mine, Eddie and Mason's car. I sat in the back with him, after grabbing the first aid kit from the boot.

I opened the first aid kit, and retrieved some antiseptic wipes, bandages and plasters for his smaller cuts. I also found an icepack for his eye. "Pass me your arm." I ordered.

He complied and placed it into my awaiting hand. I assessed the damage and gasped. He a had rows of small cuts going practically up to his elbow. This was much worse than any of the cutting Lissa had done when she was depressed. This was the arm with the big gash on it. It ran from his elbow, to almost his shoulder. I looked up, and into his eyes. He smiled slightly down at me. I could see the pain in his eyes, and it made my heart wrench.

I turned back to his arm, without saying a word. I knew the look in my eyes had told him enough. I dabbed at his arm, and although he winced and flinched many times, he didn't complain once.

Once I had finished cleaning and bandaging the obvious cuts, I asked, "You haven't got any more, have you?" I was hesitant to ask the question, because I desperately didn't want him to have any more.

"No." He said quietly.

We stayed silent for the rest of the ride. Somewhere along the way, I fell asleep. It had been a long day, and I was exhausted.

I woke up, with Dimitri's arms wrapped snugly around me. My face was buried in his chest, and is head rested on mine, snoring softly. Because my face was directed towards his chest, no one could see that I was awake. I decided to make the most of my position, and closed my eyes again, basking in Dimitri's warmth.

The car stopped a couple of minutes later. Mason must have turned around, because I heard him grumble. "Why do they always seem to end up like that."

I vaguely heard Eddie chuckle at his jealousy. Dimitri came around then, and I slammed my eyes shut. His arms moved from around me, and he sat up straighter. I flopped naturally so my head landed in his lap. I thought I was doing a pretty good impression of being asleep. "I can take her back to her dorm." Dimitri suggested.

"You need to go to Dr. Olendzki." Mason retorted, trying and failing to hide the envy he was feeling.

"I will go after I've taken her." He reasoned.

"Come on, let's go." Eddie told Mason.

Dimitri's arms slipped under me and hoisted me off the seat. I snuggled further into his chest, and couldn't stop myself from smiling.

He walked at a steady pace, and all the way up to my room. He dug around in my pockets, which made my heart rate increase slightly, until he found my key.

Placing me down on the bed, I felt him sit down next to me. "I know you're awake you know." He said nonchalantly.

My eyes snapped open, as I saw him looking highly amused next to me. "Why didn't you say anything." I whinged.

He laughed. "This was much more fun."

I laughed with him, while I sat up. "You should be at the clinic." I chastised him.

He sighed. "Okay. I'm going."

"I'll come with you." I offered. He smiled his thanks to me, before we set off towards the infirmary.

Dr. Olendzki guided us to a room, where she sat Dimitri down on the bed. I plonked myself on the plastic chair at the side of him. She glided out of the room, before reappearing with some equipment.

"Whoever did these bandages made a good job of them." She said absentmindedly.

Dimitri smiled. "That was Rose."

Dr. Olendzki looked shocked for a moment, before turning her head. "I suppose you have had practice patching yourself up." She mused.

I laughed. I had been in the infirmary every five minutes when I was a student. Either that, or I was sending someone else here.

Instead of unwrapping the bandages, she decided they were perfectly good enough to be left alone. She told Dimitri she wanted him to stay here for a while, just to assess him in a while, to see if anything had changed.

As soon as she was out the door, I turned to Dimitri. I stood up and hugged him tightly. "I was so worried about you." I whispered in his ear.

He manoeuvred his arms around me, holding me tight. I knew he was slightly traumatised by what had happened, and he was taking comfort in me holding him. A few tears escaped my eyes, and a sob came shortly after. I had been holding back my emotions of worry for a few hours now, and I was finally letting them out. Dimitri's hold increased it tightness even more, and I nestled my face in his neck. "I'm so glad your okay."

We continued our embrace, until the door opened. I pulled away and found myself looking in the ice blue eyes of Tasha. I wiped any stray tears from my face and smiled gently at her. "Hey Tasha. Thanks for helping out earlier." I said, sincerely.

She looked slightly shocked that I was crying, but turned her expression into a smile. "That's okay. I'm just glad you could get Dimka back."

"I should go." I turned back to Dimitri. "I'm glad your back Comrade. I will see you later? I still have to talk to you." I told him, before leaving the room.

I walked back happily to my room. I was happy Dimitri was back and I was happy he wasn't seriously injured. I was, obviously, distraught Dimitri had had to go through such horrible things, but at the moment, the good outweighed the bad.

I collapsed onto my bed when I got back to my room. I was still exhausted from today, and my little nap in the car hadn't really helped. I fell into an uneasy sleep shortly after.

* * *

I woke up a couple of hours later, not being able to sleep properly. It was nagging me that I hadn't had time to speak to Dimitri properly yet. I was an hour after curfew, so there was a good chance he was asleep. Right now though, I didn't care.

I hadn't changed to go to sleep, being too exhausted, so I was still in my clothes. I left my room, and headed towards the novice dorms. The corridors were, obviously, deserted.

When I reached Dimitri's room, I knocked hesitantly. I didn't want to wake him up if he had gone to sleep already. I was relieved when he opened the door, showing no signs of being asleep. He looked slightly surprised, then smiled when he saw it was me who was at the door.

He let me in, and I sat down on his bed. "Hey." I smiled.

"Hey." He grinned back. "How did you know where I was?" He asked, curiously.

"Well, I kind of guessed it was your dad who took you, so I asked Tasha for his name, and then I called your mom." I explained. Then I remembered what I had told his mom. "You should probably call her, she will be worried sick about you." I chucked him my phone. "Here."

"That was very clever." He said, admiringly. I chucked him the phone. After dialling the number he had memorised, he pressed the call button.

After a conversation in rapid Russian, he passed the phone to me. "She wants to talk to you." He explained.

I nodded and took the phone from his hand. "Hello?"

"Hello Rose." Olena's voice rang through the receiver. "I just wanted to thank you so much for bringing my son back to me. I don't know what I would have done without him." She said to me, gratefully. I could here the gratitude and relief in her voice.

I smiled. "I'm glad we got him back too."

"I have to go now, but I can never thank you enough." He said.

I said my goodbyes back before hanging up. I pocketed the phone and looked back over at Dimitri. "She seems like a lovely woman." I told him honestly.

"She is." He smiled.

I noticed we had come slightly closer to each other on the bed. "Are you okay now?" I asked gently, reaching out to grab his hand. "I can't even imagine what you've been through."

"I guess." He sighed. "While I was there, it was horrible. He kept saying all the things he was going to do with my mother when he had done with me. But what was worse, he kept threatening _you._" He paused, shuddering at the memory. "He said he knew how I felt about you, because he had had spies at the school. He said he would make you suffer."

His hand reached out and ran down my cheek. "I couldn't bare to think of anything happening to you Roza." He whispered. _Roza. _My name in Russian. It sounded beautiful the way it rolled of his tongue. My heart race increased. He had been worried about _me _when he was in all that pain.

I placed a hand on his cheek, mirroring what he had just done to me. "You can't imagine how I felt when I found out what had happened. I tried to stay calm, but I think everyone could see how panicked I was. I wished it was me they had taken instead of you."

We both leaned in. I could see him looking at my lips. It was just like the last time he almost kissed me, my heart pounding and my breathing irregular, only this time, I let him kiss me.

It was heated and passionate, as his lips moved in sync with mine. I had kissed lots of people, but this was by far the best kiss I had _ever _had. His tongue battled with mine as the intensity between us increased. He leaned over me, pushing me down onto the bed.

I entwined my fingers in his hair roughly, deepening our kiss even further. I needed to breath, but I wasn't willing to stop kissing him just yet. When I was really out of breath, I pulled away. Dimitri began trailing kisses up my ear. I arched my back, pushing my breasts into his chest. "Roza." He moaned softly, right into my ear.

I pulled his shirt up and over his head, revealing his muscular chest. His muscles had grown considerably since we had started training, it made him that slight bit more godly.

My shirt quickly followed his as we carried on our heated make out session. I was so lost in the passion and intensity we had between us, that it completely blocked out my rational thoughts.

Suddenly, they all came back to me though. I was making out with my student. He was five years younger than me, and my _student. _I couldn't do this. No matter how much I wanted to, I couldn't. It wasn't right, no matter how right it felt. I pushed Dimitri back. "Stop." I gasped out.

I quickly reached down and grabbed a t-shirt before rushing out of the room, leaving a stunned Dimitri left sat on the bed.

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_Remember to tell me if you want a DPOV :D_


	7. Chapter 7

_Here is the DPOV you all wanted. I'm not sure how good it is, but I tried! It starts from the beginning of Chapter Five. _

_If anyone wants DPOV of anymore chapters, make sure you tell me and I will have a go! _

_Thanks for all the reviews I got last time! And I hope you enjoy this, and its not too bad!_

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Chapter Seven

DPOV.

The last couple of weeks had been heaven and hell mixed into one.

Ever since I had almost kissed Rose, I couldn't get her out of my head - not that I was doing that well before.

Everyday at practice, it was taking most of my control to not just grab her and kiss her. I didn't though. I knew she couldn't do this, and that's why I wasn't going to set myself up to be let down. She wasn't willing to risk being a guardian to her best friend. Also, she knew this could ruin my career, which she seemed to keen to protect. So, I kept my guardian mask on, and my emotions locked up, hoping they would go away.

I did slip up a couple of times though…

We had been sparring in the gym. Rose had been trying to make me pin her. She would taunt me and tease me, knowing I would never get her.

"Come on Comrade." She shouted at me, waggling her body, trying to taunt me. It was distracting enough when she was hot and sweaty in so little clothing, but waggling her body in front of me, that was just too much.

In a move speedier than I thought I could manage, I had her pinned against a wall. I ought to let lust control my actions more often if I could pin her this quickly.

"Is this good enough for you?" I panted out, still holding her against the wall.

She didn't respond though. I could tell she was feeling the same desire as me, even if she was desperately trying to conceal it. Her chest was rising against mine, pushing her breasts into me.

They were good enough to look at, but pushing them up against me was more than a slight bit arousing. It took all I had to not get carried away. Unconsciously, I began to lean forward, wanting to feel her lips against mine. Before I had the chance to get any closer, she had struck out, punching me in the shoulder.

It shocked me at first, but I managed to recover, trying to stop thinking about what had just happened.

I knew it was still on both of our minds, as the energy changed in the room. Instead of trying to fight each other, we were trying not to get to carried away with each other.

That had been one of our weakest moments, but I had managed to slip up more than once, unsurprisingly.

Rose had been letting me call my mother as often as I wanted. I still felt bad for using so much money on her long distance calls, but she insisted Lissa would pay for it all. I knew how loaded the royals were, so I didn't doubt she was right.

"Goodbye Mama." I spoke in Russian, before handing the phone back to Rose. I knew she liked it when I spoke in Russian. I had once asked her if she wanted me to speak in English so she knew what I was saying. She had declined insistently, saying I should speak how I was used to.

She took the phone and we sat in that comfortable silence we always seemed to have around each other. She began to play with her hair absentmindedly.

I loved her hair. I had many times imagined kissing her and tangling my fingers in it as I brought her closer to me. I mentally shook of those images and decided to ask her a question that had been nagging at me. "How come you never cut your hair?" I asked. Nearly all the women had their hair cut short. It showed off their molnija and promise marks. "Most guardians do, to show off their marks."

She shrugged looking down at her long flowing hair. It sat to almost her waist. "I always loved my hair, I never want to cut it." She explained.

_Good._ I thought. I didn't ever want her to cut her hair either. I looked at it longingly. I really did love her hair. Surprising myself, I reached out and twirled a piece of it around my finger. It was just as soft as I imagined. What I wouldn't give to twirl the rest of it in my fingers. "I'm glad you didn't cut it." I whispered gently.

She smiled widely at me. I reluctantly let go, not wanting to break the comfortable atmosphere between us.

I sighed, knowing we could never be more than all these little things that had happened between us.

It was almost time for practice, when there was a knock on the door. The only person I could think of that would come to my room this early in the morning would be Rose. "Come in." I shouted.

The door opened and Tasha appeared. "Hey Dimka." She greeted me, beaming brightly. I managed to keep the disappointment off my face. I would much rather have seen Rose walking into my room.

"Hey Tasha." I said, smiling.

I did like Tasha, she was like my best friend and I had known her for years. Although, after only knowing Rose for three weeks, she already knew me a lot better than Tasha did. "What are you doing here?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"I just came to talk and stuff." She said, shrugging her shoulders.

I chuckled. "I have practice soon." I informed her.

She gaped at me. "I thought you only had it an hour before school." She inquired, incredulously. She had no idea how hard we had to work to become a good guardian.

"It was. Rose said she would make my training sessions longer if she was going to teach me how to fight properly. So now I have an extra couple of hours.

"Don't you think that's a bit extreme?" She asked.

"No. If I want to be a guardian, I need to be able to fight. It's really nice of her to do this for me. She doesn't exactly like getting up in the morning." I said, laughing. Rose was always later than me to practice.

Tasha looked slightly annoyed about something. I was going to question her about it, when the door burst open. Five or six guardians swam into the room. Tasha's hands instantly lit with fire. Just as she was about to start burning, one of the guardians knocked her out from behind. She slumped to the floor, the fire distinguishing.

"Tasha!" I shouted. No response.

I turned on the guardians, who were smirking at me. "What the hell!" I exclaimed, venomously.

"We have been sent to retrieve you Dimitri." They said, closing in on me. "You won't get away from this."

I struck out at the guardian closest to me, slamming him against the wall. He instantly sprang back towards me, as the others raised there fists.

I fought them off as long as I could. But I was only one under trained novice, against six skilled guardians. There was no chance I was going to win. The room was a mess. Dints and holes were in the wall, a crack was running down the side of the window and my dressers were upturned. This was the last I saw of my room, before I was knocked unconscious.

I woke up to silence, my head banging in pain. I could vaguely tell I was in a car from the movements and things whizzing past me. A guardian sat either side of me and my arms and legs were bound together. I had a gag on as well. There goes my chances of asking where I was being taken and why.

I could recognise one of the guardians now. He had been working at our school when we came back. He must have been a spy, I now realised.

I spent the rest of the journey thinking who on Earth would want to kidnap me. I came to know conclusions however.

The car came to an abrupt halt, as the guardians dragged me forcefully up to the big house in front of us. We were in an expensive area of somewhere I didn't recognise. There were only a few other houses in sight, which looked of a similar design to the one we were entering.

After being pulled through the rooms, I was sat down on a chair. New ropes were added, tying me to the chair, rather than myself.

A Moroi man walked into the room. I gasped as he turned around. I couldn't believe he was the one who had captured me. Richard Tarus. My _father._

I glared at him, as he gestured for his men to remove the gag. I instantly began shouting curse words at him in Russian. Venom laced my words.

"Calm down child." He hissed.

I continued to spout at him. Until one of his men punched my gut. I stifled a cry of surprise and pain, closing my mouth instantly. "Much better." He smiled, evilly.

"What do you want with me?" I asked, coldness clearly present in my tone.

"I want you to _suffer_." He smirked. "I want you to suffer for everything you have done to me. You took Olena from me."

"She was never yours." I spat at him. "She didn't deserve any of the things you did to her."

"Well you deserve all of the things I'm going to do to you." He told me. I could tell by the way he was speaking that he had gone off his rocker. "And so does you mother. And so does that guardian your so in love with."

My eyes narrowed at him. "Don't you hurt them."

"I can hurt _Rose Hathaway_ as much as I want to." He taunted.

I could feel my temper rising, just like he wanted. He was threatening Rose. _No one _would hurt Rose, so long as I was there to stop them. "Don't even touch Rose." I hissed. "If you touch her, I will kill you."

"I'm sure your not going to be in any state to be killing anything." He smirked, as the guardian who had punched me earlier came forward.

The guardian struck out, punching me in the face. I knew that I was going to have a black eye anytime soon. He punched me in the gut again, winding me. I gasped, trying to refill my lungs with oxygen.

My dad cackled harshly. Then he came closer, holding a thin blade. He grabbed one of my arms roughly. Lowering the blade, he cut a smooth line across my arm. It stung, but not enough to make a fuss about. Yet.

Twenty cuts later, I was in agony. My arms were both stinging painfully. I had refused to make a sound, apart from small hisses of pain. I kept my guardian mask firmly in place, and I could tell my father was getting annoyed I wasn't showing my pain.

He grabbed the blade and ran it from my shoulder down to my elbow. This cut was deeper and a lot bigger. I just managed to stifle my cry of agony. I knew he didn't want to kill me, he was just doing this to make me suffer. Like he promised. So far anyway, I didn't doubt he would kill me when he was finished.

He retied the gag when he was finished with me, but still stood in front of me.

I thought about what would happen if I couldn't get out of this. My mother would be reduced to what she used to be before I stepped in. Being beaten and bitten by the arsehole of a man in front of me.

Rose. He had already said would make her suffer too. He didn't have anything against her, he just knew that I cared about her. A _lot._

Just as I was thinking about all of these things, there was a small sound from outside the door. I knew there was guardian out there, but he could easily be taken out.

The door burst open and Rose, Alberta, Mason and Eddie all came crashing in. Rose looked murderous. She didn't look herself. I knew she had mentioned the darkness that she took from Lissa to me, but I didn't realise it made her so different. The three guardians went after Alberta, Mason and Eddie. Rose went straight for my father.

She lunged at him, landing a kick to his gut. He groaned and stumbled backwards. "Stupid bitch." He hissed at her. He turned back to face me, for just a minute. "I will get you. You and your stupid little guardian girlfriend." He gestured to Rose when he said this, and her eyes widened slightly.

She kicked him in the chest at full strength. He hurtled backwards, flying to the wall and then falling unconscious.

Rose was instantly in front of me. I could tell she was looking at all the cuts and bruises covering me. She looked horrified. She untied the gag and went to release the ropes restraining my arms and legs.

She came back around to my front. "Thanks." I didn't realise how croaky my voice was until now.

A tear slipped out of her eye as she helped me up. I almost pulled her into my arms when I saw she had shed a tear because of me. She had been really worried about me, and I knew she had been upset by the condition I was in.

"Come on, lets get out of here." She suggested quietly. I hadn't realised the other guardians had stopped fighting until now.

I got into the car Rose was in, as she went to get something from the boot. When she came back, she was holding a first aid kit.

She slid in next me, closing the door behind her. Mason started the car and we drove in silence. "Give me you hand." She ordered.

I complied, placing it in her outstretched hand. Looking up into my eyes, she showed me how much she cared. I smiled slightly, before she cleaned the cuts up and bandaged them carefully. Even though it hurt, I didn't make a sound. I did flinch a couple of times though.

Once she had finished, she checked over my body again. "You haven't got any more have you?" She asked, almost hesitantly.

"No."

We stayed silent after that. Before long, Rose had fallen asleep, resting her head lightly on my shoulder. It felt so right, having Rose cuddling up to me when she was asleep.

I dozed of myself pretty quickly.

When I woke up, my arms were wrapped protectively around Rose's waist. Her face was buried in my chest and my head rested on hers lightly. I heard Mason grumbling about something, so I sat up straighter, removing my arms from Rose.

She flopped, so her head landed on my lap. Her movements were to stiff though, and a small smile was tugging at her lips. I knew she was awake.

"I can take her back to her room." I offered.

Mason didn't look like he wanted me to be going anywhere with Rose. "You need to go to Dr. Olendzki." He replied, trying to keep the obvious jealousy out of his voice.

"I will go after I've taken her." I tried to reason with him.

"Come on Mason, lets go." Eddie said, pulling Mason from the car.

I grinned, before slipping my arms under Rose's 'sleeping' form. She snuggled into me and smiled. I just managed to hold in the chuckle that wanted to escape me.

When we got to her room, I dug around in her pockets for the key. Once in the room, I placed her down on the bed, before sitting beside her.

"I know you're awake you know." I said, smirking.

Her eyes snapped open and she looked over to me. "Why didn't you say anything?" She whined.

I finally released the laugh I had been holding in. "This was much more fun."

She laughed with me, while sitting up. "You should be at the clinic." She told me.

I sighed. "Okay, I'm going." I said, begrudgingly. I really hated the infirmary.

"I'll go with you." She offered, I smiled and my thanks to her, before we left the room.

Dr. Olendzki was expecting me when we got there and she ushered my into a room. Rose sat down on the plastic chair beside my bed. Dr. Olendzki left and then returned with some equipment.

She looked over my body, checking the bandages. "Whoever did these bandages did a good job of them." She spoke, complimenting Rose without realising it.

"That was Rose."

Dr. Olendzki looked reasonably shocked, before controlling her expression. "I suppose you have had practice patching yourself up." She teased, lightly.

Rose laughed. I loved the sound of her laugh.

Dr. Olendzki told me to stay put, because she wanted to make sure nothing happened to me in the next couple of hours. She kept the bandages on, deciding they were of a good enough quality.

As soon as she was out the door, Rose stood up and rushed over to me, throwing her arms around me in a hug. "I was so worried about you." She whispered in my ear. Her voice was thick with emotion and unshed tears.

I returned her hug tightly, taking in her support. She knew this wasn't easy for me. She knew how much this had hurt me physically and emotionally. She just _knew._

I could feel her tears on the crook of my neck, as her body shook with a couple of sobs. I tightened my arms even more, while she tried to calm down. "I'm so glad your okay." She said, brokenly.

A couple of seconds later, Tasha appeared in the doorway. She had a bruise on her head from where the guardians had knocked her out.

Rose pulled back from me, wiping her eyes for stray tears. Tasha looked shocked she was crying, but quickly recovered, her face forming a smile. "Hey Tasha. Thanks for helping out earlier." She said genuinely.

"That's okay. I'm just glad you could get Dimka back." God. I hated it when she called me that. It was different when my family said it, but with Tasha it was just annoying.

"I should go." Rose spoke, turning back to me. "I'm glad your back Comrade." I smiled at her awful nickname for me. "I will see you later? I still have to talk to you." Then she left the room.

Tasha walked over and took Rose's place, hugging me tightly. I gently put my arms around her. She just didn't feel like Rose did in my arms.

She pulled back after a second, thinking I was too hurt to hug her properly. "I'm so glad your back!" She squeaked. "I was so worried. Then when I came round and Rose was panicking, I didn't know what had happened. Then she figured out it was your dad who took you and called your mother and worked it all out. Your so lucky!" She ranted.

I was beginning to zone out, but she was talking about Rose. I couldn't believe she had worked all of that out. And she was panicking. She really was that worried about me. "I'm glad to be back." I smiled slightly.

Tasha was full on beaming. "How come you told Rose everything anyway?" She asked, her smile faltering a bit.

I shrugged, trying to act like it was nothing. I couldn't exactly say the real reasons. "I just trusted her. If anything like this did ever happen, it was best someone knew." I lied.

She seemed to accept my response and carried on blabbing about random things until Dr. Olendzki came in. "You can go now Dimitri." She said.

Tasha said her goodbyes and I walked back to my room alone. It was just about curfew when I got back to my room. I lied down on my bed, grabbing my western from the beside table.

After about an hour of reading, but my thoughts constantly on Rose, there was a knock on the door.

I got up and opened it, slightly surprised to see Rose there. I let her in and we both sat on the bed. "Hey." She greeted me, smiling.

I grinned back at her. "Hey." I replied. "How did you know where I was?" I asked her, curious to know if Tasha had missed anything out.

"Well, I kind of guessed it was your dad who took you, so I asked Tasha for his name, and then I called your mom." She explained. "You should probably call her, she will be worried sick about you." She threw me her phone. "Here."

"That was very clever." I complimented her, before dialling the number and putting the phone to my ear. "Hello?" My mother answered in Russian.

"Hello Mama?" I replied back.

She choked on something she was drinking and I could practically hear her happiness. "Oh Dimka! I'm so glad your okay!" She cried.

I laughed. "I'm fine. Rose came and saved me."

"I like her," She began. "She's a nice girl. She liked you too, I could tell by the way she was so panicked when she rang me."

"She's great." I responded, truthfully.

"Can I speak to her. I need to thank her for getting you back." She asked.

"Of course."

I switched back to English as I held the phone out to Rose. "She wants to talk to you." I explained.

She took the phone off me and put it to her ear. She spoke to my mother for a couple of seconds, before hanging up. "She seems like a lovely woman." She told me.

I smiled. "She is."

I noticed we were unconsciously getting closer to each other. "Are you okay now?" She asked quietly, reaching out and grabbing my hand. "I can't even imagine what you've been through."

She was right. She _couldn't _imagine what I'd been through. The point was, that she was trying, and that was all I needed from her. "I guess." I sighed, thinking about what had happened. "While I was there, it was horrible. He kept saying all these things he was going to do with my mother when he had done with me. But what was worse, he kept threatening _you._" I paused, shuddering. "He said he knew how I felt about you, because he had spies at the school. He said he would make you suffer." I ran a hand down her cheek, feeling her soft skin. "I couldn't bare to think of anything happening to you Roza."

_Roza. _Her Russian name slipped easily off my tongue. I could tell she liked the way it sounded.

She placed a hand on my cheek, like I had done to her. "You can't imagine how I felt when I found out what had happened. I tried to stay calm, but I think everyone could tell how panicked I was." Tasha and my Mom had both mentioned that. "I wish they had taken me instead of you."

I was shocked. She really wished she had been the one to go through all that pain instead of me. We both leaned in. Our breathing was irregular and my heart was beating out of my chest.

This was just like the last time I had almost kissed her, but this time, she let me.

It was heated and passionate as our lips moved together. I had been dreaming of this moment for some time now, but this was even better than I expected. I had never really kissed many girls, but I knew this was as good as it would get.

We battled our tongues together. I leaned over her, pushing her into the mattress. Grabbing my hair roughly, she pulled my mouth even more firmly to hers, trying to resist the urge to breath.

When she finally had to pull away, I trailed kisses up to her ear, moaning softly into it - "Roza," - as she pushed her breasts into my chest.

She pulled my shirt up and over my head, revealing my muscles. They had grown since we had begun training and I knew she loved to look at them. I followed suit, pulling her shirt off and throwing it on the floor.

Suddenly, she pushed me away. "Stop." She gasped out, before grabbing a shirt and fleeing from the room.

I sat up, stunned as ever, on the bed. Sighing, I buried my head in my hands.


	8. Chapter 8

_I'M SO SORRY. I can't believe how long it is since I have updated this story! My english exam has been really weighing me down. I'm not that good at English so I have been revising lots. I never knew how much I hated 'Of Mice and Men'. _

_I put some Adrian in this chapter. I really like him and I haven't really written much about him before, I prefer Dimitri and Christian. _

_I know this is short, but at least it has a bit of a twist in it, I suppose. _

_Thank you for all the reviews, I hope I am going to be moving away from the original storyline soon, putting some more of my own ideas in soon. Hope you enjoy this chapter, and once again I am SO SORRY for the wait!

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Chapter Eight…

It was only when I got back to my room that I realised I had taken Dimitri's shirt instead of my own. I took a moment to breathe and his sent filled my head. Despite knowing I should rip the shirt off and burn it or something, I couldn't quite bring myself to let go of it yet.

I collapsed onto my bed and allowed a tear to leak out of my eye. How had I managed to get myself involved in this? I was falling for my _student_. How did I even manage this? I hadn't really had any serious romantic relationships and I already felt more for Dimitri than I had from all my previous boyfriends put together.

I couldn't get distracted with a forbidden relationship, risking mine and Dimitri's career and Lissa's safety. This was all messed up. It could never happen, so why had I let it get this far? Because I couldn't help it. The answer was that simple. It wasn't as if I chosen to feel this. I didn't want to complicate my life like that.

All these thoughts running through my head were upsetting me even more. I was so confused. As much as I knew I couldn't pursue my feelings, it pained me to think I was going to have to let them go. I didn't even know if I could. I didn't think they were just going to go away. 'Ignore' would be a better word.

Sometime in my mental rant, I managed to fall asleep - wrapped up in the warmth Dimitri's shirt seemed to provide. I doubted I would be throwing it away any time soon - or giving it back for that matter.

My sleep was uneasy, but I soon fell into the scenery of an Adrian dream. Why did he have to pick tonight to harass me. "Adrian." I called, wanting to get out of here as soon as possible. I wasn't in the mood to deal with his constant flirting and innuendos.

"Hello Little Dhampir." Adrian greeted, draping his arm around my shoulder. I shrugged him off and stood opposite him instead. He gave me a puzzled look. "You are even more resistant to my charm than normal." He teased.

I glared at him, not even bothering to cover up the annoyance I was feeling. Adrian looked closer, and if I didn't know that he was studying my aura, I would have said he was checking me out. He was probably doing both anyway.

His eyebrows pulled together as he stared intently at me. "What's happened?" He asked, genuinely concerned. "You have so many conflicted emotions."

I shook my head. "It's nothing." I denied.

He raised an eyebrow at me. "That," he gestured to the invisible colours he could see surrounding me, "is not nothing."

I shrugged again. "Fine, it's something, just not a something I want to discuss with you."

"You know I am always here for you Rose." He said sincerely.

I smiled. "I know, I just don't want to talk about it, okay?"

He nodded, clearly not about to drop it. After a couple of minutes silence, he couldn't contain his questions any longer. "Who is it?" He inquired.

"What makes you think this is about someone?" I asked, defiantly.

He chuckled. "You're not the one who can see the colours."

Before I had time to come up with some retort, he began to fade. "I will get this out of you." He informed me. I groaned before he disappeared completely.

I woke up to my alarm. I threw it against the wall, extremely pissed off at practically everything in my life at the moment. Adrian now knew something was going on, and wasn't planning on leaving it alone any time soon.

I realised that my alarm had been going off to wake me up for training. With Dimitri. I couldn't do it, not yet. I scrambled around my room, looking for a pen and some paper. I scribbled out a note quickly.

_To Dimitri. _

_I am sorry but I am going to cancel training for a while so that you have the opportunity to recover from this recent event. _

_From Rose. _

I decided that keeping it quite formal was the best thing to do. The urge to write _To Comrade _was overwhelming though. I hurried down to the matron and asked her to deliver it to Dimitri's room.

I then returned to my room, ready to make a plan of action on how to avoid Dimitri for a while.

When it was time to go to my shift, I had still come up with nothing. How could I avoid someone who was a student at the school I worked at. _My _student. I knew most of his schedule, and could just go to the classes where Dimitri wasn't.

Sighing, I dragged myself to my first shift, patrolling the perimeters, at least I knew I would run into anybody there.

My shift and the next couple of days passed quickly. I had only seen brief glances of Dimitri and we hadn't spoken. Every time I caught a glance of him though, it still managed to make my heart flutter slightly. I had also been avoiding Adrian, a little less successfully. He had been pressuring me to tell him all my problems, and I had resisted in telling him so far. It didn't seem to put him off, just like _other _things I told him to stop doing. However, I didn't think I would ever be able to convince him to stop hitting on me.

I hadn't been doing so great. I had not been sleeping well and my appetite had been lacking. It was nothing important, and no one noticed, but it still bothered me how much this seemed to be affecting me.

I walked past the open gym and round to the novices dorms where my next shift would be. Just as I was rounding the corner, Adrian slung his arm round my shoulder. "Adrian." I greeted distastefully.

"Hello Little Dhampir." He exclaimed, cheerfully. "So, care to enlighten me on your mysterious lover yet?"

I groaned. "There is nothing to tell Adrian." I hissed, giving the same response I had many times before.

"I know you're lying and I _will _find out." He warned.

"Look Adrian, it's nothing important and it really isn't something I am willing to talk about with anyone."

He looked seriously at me then. "Rose you look knackered and you haven't been eating properly, you need to talk to someone."

I sighed. Someone had noticed. Before I had time to respond, I noticed Dimitri coming towards me. He had the worst timing possible. His eyes locked onto mine and I felt my heart flutter like normal. "Hey Rose." He called out, still coming towards me. "When are we starting training again?" He asked.

I sighed and thought about whether or not I could deal with training Dimitri again anytime soon. "I don't k-" I began.

I was cut off by Adrian's sharp intake of breath. "_Holy Shit Little Dhampir_." He yelled, fixing me with a glare. I looked at him wide-eyed.

Dimitri also looked taken aback and I wondered what was wrong with Adrian, then I realised. He must have been studying my aura when I was thinking about Dimitri and it had amplified my aura. Adrian grabbed my arm. "We need to talk Rose." He hissed.

I gulped but began walking to wherever he was dragging me. Dimitri looked annoyed at Adrian and opened his mouth to speak. "We start training again tomorrow." I said, without really thinking. I just needed him to keep his mouth shut.

Adrian had let go of my arm now, but wouldn't look at me. I recognised the way to his room now, and walked alongside him.

I was panicking mentally. From the look on Adrian's face, he didn't seem to like the idea of me having feelings for my student. I was pretty sure this had something to do with him being bias, but it still made me think that even if we could be together, everyone would judge us harshly.

Adrian opened his door, which I hadn't realised we'd reached, and gestured to the sofa, wanting me to sit down. I sat reluctantly, almost nervously, waiting for him to speak. He flopped down next to me and rested his elbows on his knees, burying his head in his hands. "You had better explain." He muttered out.

I sighed and thought about what I was going to say. Nothing had really happened. "There's not much to say." I said quietly.

Adrian's head snapped up and he got to his feet in an instant, pointing an accusing finger at me. "_Not much to say!_" He bellowed. "I saw the colours in you aura when you even looked at him. Don't even _bother _telling me there isn't much to say."

I took a deep breath and tried to explain my mixed up feelings as well as I could. "Well, we started training, and my feelings towards him grew. Just little things made me respect him. Like how he ran away from the Academy just to help out his mother." I paused, thinking of how to continue. "Then one day in the gym, we were fighting and he pinned me up against the wall. We almost kissed and it kind of brought me back to reality. Nothing much happened then, until he got kidnapped. The night we got back, we kind of…made out." I said, looking away from him. "Then I cancelled our training sessions until further notice and I haven't spoken to him since." I finished.

Adrian looked angry still, but there were some other emotions in his eyes which I couldn't quite identify. "So your not together then?" He asked, with almost no emotion in his voice, you could still here the anger he was attempting to conceal though.

I shook my head. "No."

Adrian looked slightly more relieved. "What are you going to do now then?" He inquired.

"Treat him as my student." I told him honestly. "Nothing more will happen between us." I vowed, more to myself than Adrian. Trying to convince myself was taking a lot of doing.

"Good." He muttered.

Anger suddenly gripped me and I had a feeling some of it was due to Lissa's spirit. "Why do you care so much. It's my life." I hissed.

Adrian glared at me. "Why do you think I care Rose. He is your _student_. I don't want you messing up your career because you were careless enough to get into some stupid relationship with your student." I flinched at the words 'stupid relationship'. "And because I care about you Rose. I don't like the idea of you being with anyone but me and you know it."

I looked away from him then. He was right. I _did _know it. In my moment of anger I had said something I didn't want to bring up. "I'm sorry Adrian." I whispered.

He sat down beside me heavily once again. "I know. I know you don't feel that way Little Dhampir, but it doesn't stop me feeling this way."

I reached out and hugged him gently. He returned the gesture and we stayed in our embrace for a couple of minutes before Adrian broke it. "Just don't do anything stupid." He warned.

I nodded and then stood to leave. "I won't. Nothing is going to happen between us. It can't."

I walked out the door unsure if I was happy or annoyed that Adrian knew about my feelings.


	9. Chapter 9

_**SORRY. AGAIN. I KNOW YOU ALL PROBABLY HATE ME. **_

_I have had a lot of things on at the moment. I have some more English assessments. I have to write a rant about something, I should probably have done it about people who don't update on Fanfiction! I did it on the new Declan on Neighbours instead though. I actually **hate **him. I also have French coursework to do, which is really hard. _

_Aside from that, I have been playing on my xbox quite a bit. Fable 3 came out, so I have completed it twice now! I had to check out the Fable Fanfics as well. If you have played the game, I would recommend you read them, there are some really good ones. _

_Back to the story. I'm starting to think this story isn't really very interesting. I'm trying my best honestly! I hope you enjoy this anyway and I will try and take some time to update as much as possible. Thank you for all of the reviews and I hope you like this chapter and review. I might do a DPOV for the next chapter. See what you think :)

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Chapter Nine…

_Beep…Beep…Beep…_

I groaned, whacking my alarm clock to the floor, having the satisfaction of hearing its strangled last sound. I raised my head and realised why my alarm clock had been waking me up.

I had stupidly agreed to start training with Dimitri again as a spur of the moment thing. Now I had to stick to it, I had been avoiding him for too long now, people were going to start asking questions soon.

I sighed and walked down to the gym. Walking slowly and mentally preparing myself for what was about to happen. I didn't know what to expect though, so I didn't quite no what to expect.

I pushed open the door slowly when I got there, hearing nothing from inside.

When I went through the door, Dimitri was sitting reading his western, like he did every other training session. He looked up when I entered and I smiled, almost shyly. He smiled back tentatively, getting to his feet. "Laps." I ordered, but not harshly.

I sat and waited for him to finish, wondering how long we could manage to avoid the inevitable talk for. He came back in, looking less tired than he had before the 'incident', I wondered if he had been coming to practice while our training sessions hadn't been happening. "Well done." I congratulated him. "Your getting better. A _lot _better."

He beamed with approval and I couldn't help but grin back. It all just seemed so normal. "Let's spar." I challenged.

We took up our positions, my heart racing before we had started. I had been avoiding looking at him too closely, but now it was impossible. He stood opposite me, still slightly out of breath from the laps and a thin layer of sweat coating him. His eyes showed determination, he wanted to win. He hair was pulled back and I could see his face completely, his lips were curved up into a half-smile. His t-shirt was tight and showed off all of his muscles. Maybe sparring wasn't such a great idea…

I noticed him looking at me in the same way I had just been observing him. It was the first time we had been this close to each other in a while, and we could both feel the electricity in the air, no matter how much I tried to deny it.

While I hoped he was distracted, I lunged towards him, attempting to land a kick to his chest. He blocked it, but it still caused him to stagger backwards, before righting himself. He immediately retaliated with a punch to my arm, which hit the mark. I winced, it had had a lot of force behind it.

I had let him get his hit in now, so I kicked his shin, causing him to fall to the ground, face first. I instantly jumped on his back and pinned him down, his cheek pushed into the mat. "I win." I whispered in his ear, before jumping off him again.

He chuckled and took the hand I had outstretched to him, offering for him to get up. "You may have improved, but you will never be better than me." I teased.

He laughed outright. "I'm sure you will be surprised one day." He joked.

We took up our positions on the mat again and I attempted to wiggle my eyebrows at him. I failed, of course, and he ended up laughing at me instead. While he was distracted, I kicked him to the floor and straddled his waist pinning him down, his wrists held above his head as I leaned over his face. "Don't get distracted." I chastised, playfully.

"It's hard not to." He muttered, but I still heard him. I realised the double meaning in his words and the air around us suddenly became even hotter. I looked back into his eyes and saw the obvious desire. Not daring to let go of his hands, I looked down.

"We need to talk." I said, disappointedly.

He nodded, understanding this was going to happen. I got off him and sat opposite him instead, my legs crossed. "Look…" I began, unsure of how to start.

"It's okay. I get it." He sighed. "I know we can't be together. Student-teacher thing. I guess I knew it could never really happen in the first place." He explained.

I looked up, he needed to know that wasn't what was stopping me. "That's not it." I started. "The student-teacher thing doesn't bother me. It never has. It's just that if I got fired, it would mean leaving my post as Lissa's guardian. I couldn't do that. _I _have to protect her. I couldn't let her go unprotected. It would ruin your chances at being a guardian as well. I don't want that to happen to you."

He looked surprised, but almost proud, admiring. "I'm glad." He spoke, shocking me with his words. "I'm glad that if we couldn't be together it was because of a reasonable reason rather than something as stupid as me being your student." He told me.

I smiled, unable to resist the urge to hug him. "I'm so sorry this couldn't happen." I whispered, a slight waver in my voice as a tear trickled down my face. I didn't cry often, but I couldn't stop it this time.

When we split apart, he looked like something new had just popped into his head. "What was up with Adrian yesterday?" He inquired. "He looked more than a bit angry."

I sighed, remembering how angry Adrian had been at me. "Did I tell you that Adrian is a spirit user as well?" I asked, not recalling ever informing Dimitri of this.

He shook his head. "No, I don't think so. Does that mean that he can heal people like Lissa can?"

It was my turn to shake my head now. "No, he can read auras and dream walk." He shot me a confused glance, probably not understanding either of those terms. "An aura is a kind of light around someone that can tell you about their emotions. Dream walking is when you can enter someone else's dreams." I explained, making it clearer for him.

He nodded. "He read your aura then?" Dimitri figured out.

I nodded. "He dream walked me the night we rescued you and noticed something up with the colour of my aura. He said I had 'conflicted emotions'. He tried to guess who it was for the next couple of days, while I was avoiding you." I said, blushing slightly. Dimitri chuckled. "Then that day when you came over to find out when we were starting training again, Adrian saw my aura and then dragged me back to his room for me to 'explain'. I think he's still mad at me though."

Dimitri looked hesitant but pulled me into a short-lived embrace. "He will be fine, he's just jealous." Dimitri reasoned.

I nodded, I did know that, but I didn't want Adrian to hate me, especially if nothing could come of my feelings. "I just don't want him to hate me. He's my friend." I said, deflated. Before he could offer anymore support, I stood up. "Come on, you should go and get some breakfast before classes start."

He stood up and joined me in walking towards the door. Before we got there though, he grabbed my arm. "I'm glad I still get to be your friend Rose." He said, smiling.

I grinned. "Me too, _Comrade._"

He groaned. "I still hate that name!" He teased.

I laughed. "Doesn't mean I'm going to stop saying it."

We both chuckled as we separated, going our separate directions. I headed towards the staff area, while Dimitri went to the commons to get his breakfast.

All my friends were already seated when I got to the staff room. Adrian sent me a harsh glare and I couldn't stop myself from flinching. Nobody noticed though, I didn't want anyone to work out why I was fighting with Adrian.

I sat down next to Lissa who smiled widely at me, passing me some food. "You've started training Dimitri again then?" Christian asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, I think he's okay again. He was a bit shaken up after everything that had happened."

Adrian snorted, but didn't make any comment when people shot curious glances at him. I just sat and glared, not being able to conjure up any other expression. Adrian looked pointedly away from me throughout the whole of breakfast, not speaking to me once. I could feel guilt eating away at me, but I didn't really know why. I hadn't done anything. I couldn't help what I was feeling, but I was doing the right thing by ignoring it. I was doing what was the best for everyone but me. I didn't see how that could be considered a bad thing. I was protecting everyone by pushing this aside.

Lissa wondered what Adrian's problem with me was, but didn't question either of us.

Sighing, I got up. "I have to go for my shift." I told everyone.

Mason stood up too, which surprised me because I knew he didn't have this shift. "I will come with you." He stated - not offering any other explanation - before following me out of the room.

We walked in a strangely uncomfortable silence until Mason put his hand on my arm to stop me. "What's going on with you and Adrian?" He asked, an emotion I couldn't quite place colouring his voice.

I shrugged my shoulders. "We just fell out about something yesterday." I said vaguely.

Mason looked at me, clearly wanting me to elaborate further. "Look it was nothing, okay! Adrian took something way out of hand and now he isn't speaking to me, it's nothing for you to blow up over as well."

He looked away. "It's just that you have never really fallen out before, so, well…" He paused, seeming unable to speak the words he was thinking. "I thought there might be something going on between you." Mason said the last sentence quietly, as though he didn't want anybody else to hear.

I couldn't believe it. Mason thought me and Adrian had some kind of thing together. That was the least of our problems; the opposite really. I now identified the emotion that was plaguing his voice. Jealousy. He was jealous that me and Adrian might really have something between us.

"Trust me. There is _nothing _going on between me and Adrian, and there never will." I confirmed, speaking the truth. There never would be anything between me and Adrian, because I just didn't feel that way about him. He was my _friend._

I didn't see why I had to confirm this to Mason. If I had wanted to go out with Adrian, it wouldn't have been any of Mason's business anyway. Sure, he was jealous, but he couldn't stop me from being happy even if he was.

"I'm glad." He mused, probably not even meaning to say it out loud. Then he seemed to come out of his little world of relief and looked at me. "What is wrong with you two then?" He urged.

I sighed. "I told you it was nothing. It will be sorted by tomorrow." I hoped, rather than stated.

Mason nodded, not looking like he particularly believed me. "I really do have to get to my shift you know." I teased.

I caused him to crack a smile and I knew that there wouldn't be anymore awkwardness between us. Well, anymore awkwardness than I normally felt anyway.

I walked in the opposite direction, ready to start my shift, my mind working overtime, trying to figure out the events of the last few days.

Adrian knew about my mixed up feelings with Dimitri and hated me for them. Dimitri and I were friends, nothing more. Technically, everything was sorted out, apart from the Adrian problem, and things were back to normal.

So why did I still feel so upset?


	10. Chapter 10

**I AM PUTTING THIS STORY ON HOLD. **

_I know it's really bad that I started another story, but I didn't realise how much homework I was going to be getting. I have French coursework which I am trying to remember and I have a Maths Exam in December. It's all just weighing me down and it's hard to update 2 stories nevermind 3. I know you all hate me, but I will carry this on as soon as I finish Heartbreak and Happiness which is nearly finished. _

**_I REALLY AM SORRY. I HOPE YOU WILL STILL BE READING IT WHEN I COME BACK AGAIN. :(_**


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